Digital Hazard: A Thousand Sunsets
by Phantom Typewriter
Summary: Two worlds at war. Six rogues fighting to bridge the gap. One beacon of light. One city in flames. And one shadow lurking in the wake of a ghost that refuses to find rest. The end of the world has only begun... First part of a multi-book series. Rating, genres, and main characters will change in later parts. Book One is now complete. Book Zero currently in progress.
1. Encounter

Chapter 1: Encounter

**In the grim dark of the twenty-first century, there is only war.**

Hikari glanced up from her computer screen and felt her heart stop for a moment at the sound of the alarm. Immediately she would be up from her seat and rushing out to the living room of her family's apartment as her father, already there, switched on the TV to check the local announcement that was going out to the entire city.

The feeling she felt in her heart a moment before would be echoed by the rest of her family as they saw the code flashing on the top of the screen. R-08-N-X1. Residential section 08, north side... level one alert. Mandatory evacuation order.

"-the third barrier generator on the northern front, forcing technicians to divert additional power from the rest of the network to maintain the barrier. According to Hunter Command, the emergency network in that section is being pushed to its limit and will not be able to be maintained indefinitely. Cascade system failure is expected within one hour. All residents are to evacuate to their designated safety zone within that time. I repeat..."

Hikari was the first to react, running back to her room to grab begin gathering all her necessities. Photographs and other sentimental items received first priority. These were the things that couldn't be replaced. Second was every piece of electronics that had any sort of unique data stored on it. Computers, smart phones... these were matters of personal security. Myotismon's digimon were capable of easily breaking any passwords they put on their computers once they came in and took over, so the only way to protect their personal data was taking it with them or destroying it completely.

Hikari's laptop and phone were easy enough to pack. The desktops were more of a hassle, but fortunately they were built to standard Hunter specs, allowing them to easily eject all their hard drives and other data storage devices to be packed away. After all those came more basic necessities like clothes. They didn't take much, just enough to last them a few days until they could get more. And that was it. Everything else was replaceable, and the family wasn't going to risk not making it to the evac zone for such paltry possessions.

Of the three of them, Hikari was the calmest, though that wasn't saying much. She knew the protocol, she memorized the procedures front and back... but the difference between knowing and acting... between understanding how such an evacuation would take place and actually going through with it... it was beyond description.

Nothing could adequately prepare her for fleeing from her home, likely never to return. Nothing could prepare her to know that in under an hour that barrier on the north side of their sector was going to fall, and then the countless hundreds of ravenous, beastly digimon under Myostismon's command were going to flood that region, killing everything that put up a fight... and then the hundreds more soldiers in his army were going to capture the few survivors to take them away to face God-knows-what manner of hell as his prisoners.

Their lives were ending. Their home, their jobs, their relationships with friends and neighbors... they were about to become refugees, to be shipped off to some corner of the city, country, or the world, likely never to see any of this again, while the Digimon Hunters and the invaders fought over the crumbling ruins of their old home.

All this weighed down on Hikari's mind as she led her parents down the apartment complex stairs, through the ever-thickening fields of people, toward their vehicle to flee... and she was still one of the calmest that moved among the crowd.

Only one thing kept her nerves in check... a piece of knowledge that those around her lacked. Her brother, Taichi Yagami.

Her parents had tried to hide the news as best they could, but she picked up bits and pieces regardless... enough to learn the truth. The rogue six... the children who fought alongside digimon, feared or hated on both sides of the war between humans and digimon... Taichi was one of them. Along with his unknown reptilian digimon, Taichi stood at the front lines, throwing himself into the heart of the conflict with all the brash recklessness she would have expected, and then yet more... he didn't fear death. If anything, he mocked it, daring it to take his life while casting himself into worse and worse straits with every passing day.

He could fight. He was just a child, like she was, but he fought harder and better than any of the adult Hunters that were continually being pushed back by the invaders. If he could do that... Hikari could too. She didn't have the digimon companion to fight with her against the invaders, but here she could fight a very different kind of war. A war to protect her family, to serve as her namesake... a beacon of light that kept them calm in spite of the madness that swarmed around them. Now, more the ever, in the time of worst strife, they needed that...

Their belongings would be loaded into the car quickly enough once they reached it, and then they were off. They were, unsurprisingly, one of the first families to finish loading up and head out of the complex, which put them ahead of part of the rush. However, of those in their sector that had been designated to flee through the south barrier to escape, they were further to the north than most, so they quickly found themselves driving streets that were becoming more and more congested with other vehicles heading the same way they were.

At the sight of several vehicles turning off to make for a different sector exit, Hikari's dad made a motion to follow them before he was promptly stopped by the girl in the back seat.

"Dad, don't. Stay on this road."

Her voice was shaky, but firm enough to be commanding. Commanding toward her own father... she never thought she'd see the day.

"There's too many cars here, Hikari. One of the other exits-"

"Will be just as packed as this one. We're _on the grid_, dad. We were told to take this exit. It's the only one that has us on file. Any other exit would have to stop us and run us through security to make sure we're not digimon spies or something, and it'll just slow us down more. We _have_ to take _this_ exit."

Hikari understood... her parents were scared, trying to hurry. Hell, she was scared too, doubly so because she knew if they went to another exit they might not get out in time. Please... for the love of God, do NOT turn off this road...

Hikari breathed a sigh of relief when her father readjusted to continue down that road. She may have been a child, but her parents knew she was no fool... she knew all the ins and outs of Hunter protocol, at least as far as civilians were allowed to know. If she said they had to take this exit, then they had to take it.

Fortunately for all parties, Hikari proved correct. The trip got quicker with each intersection and lane merger they left behind and they found themselves at the barrier stop far sooner than they ever expected. A quick flash of each of their IDs to the Hunters that stood guard and they were in without discussion. The Hunters were clearly trying to work everyone through as fast as possible to get the entire sector evacuated within the hour, so they were perhaps being a little lax on the security.

Then again, perhaps not...

Halfway through the tunnel that would take them to the next sector, their car, along with three others, would be abruptly stopped. A military vehicle with Hunter markings moved ahead of the string of vehicles, and another behind, to escort them out the far end of the tunnel.

"What's this about..."

Hikari's father wondered aloud as their vehicle came out of the barrier tunnel and they breathed a collective sigh of relief despite the... peculiar circumstances they found themselves in.

Once they stopped, the Hunters ushered everyone out of all of the stopped vehicles, lining them up in front of a nearby wall as several men began working over their vehicles with several large devices... likely some kind of scanners.

"What's going on here?"

Someone from the group asked, though his question would go unheeded until the officer in command of the group was finished giving orders to his subordinates and moved toward the civilian group.

"Something tripped the DG sensors in the tunnels. We weren't able to zero in on a specific source, so we have to check all of you. IDs, please."

Each of the people in the line was brought one by one, moved out several feet ahead of the rest and scanned by a soldier while another man standing beside the officer with a laptop in one hand looked over their ID and checked it with his records. A pair of additional soldiers stood behind him, armed with their special Hunter gear designed specifically to harm data-based life, likely in case one of them was a digimon in disguise.

Hikari didn't know if digimon ever actually took the forms of humans or if this was just the Hunters being extra paranoid... then again, something apparently tripped the sensors, so perhaps it was necessary?

They worked down the line to Hikari's parents, and then Hikari herself. Her check seemed to be going normally until something on the man's computer apparently screwed up, though with her being unable to see the screen it was impossible to know what.

"Problem?"

The officer asked, glancing aside but showing no emotion.

"System glitch. Minor data hiccup switching from the standard ID database to special ID."

"Special ID?"

The voice of Hikari's father sounded from behind her. The officer was silent a moment, looking over to the tech man beside him before looking up again.

"Standard IDs are issued to adults, and serve their usual purpose in addition to being a part of the Hunter security database. IDs given to minors do not serve the first purpose, and are saved in a separate database."

Hikari blinked, slight confused. One problem with that... she recalled several kids ahead of her who had already been checked. Why did none of them cause a data hiccup?

"Clear. Next."

Hikari moved back to the line and waited for the rest of the people to be checked. Glancing aside, she double-checked those ahead of her in the line and sure enough... several kids, just as she remembered. And one more after, too. No problems with any of them, though.

Before long they were all done being checked, and their vehicles with them. Moving off to one side, the officer spoke briefly with all of his men before returning to face the civilians again, apparently satisfied.

"You're all cleared to go. For future reference, please remember to disable all electronics when passing through barrier checkpoints so that you do not accidentally trip the DG sensors. Understood?"

Everyone predictably nodded, several of them glancing aside to the others, likely wondering which ones were responsible for tripping the sensors. However, the officer gave no hint by his eyes or expression and simply turned to walk away, leaving them all simply to wonder.

Oh well... Hikari, for her part, knew that she and her parents weren't the ones responsible, so it didn't bother her. That data hiccup, however...

Back in the car, they continued toward their destination, a temporary refugee shelter. Meanwhile, Hikari mulled over the issue in her head. Why her? Just random chance? One glitch out of a thousand civilians passing through? Doubtful. Most likely the whole glitch thing was a lie anyway.

So, what was so special about her? Only one thing... her brother. Taichi was one of the rogue six, and they had to know who he was after all the time they had been fighting. So they knew she was his sister, and likely she was on watch. After all, she was now eleven, wasn't she? That was the same age he had been when the war started. The same age he had been when he joined up with his digimon companion... however that happened.

Maybe they thought she would do the same. Not that she knew how to, even if she wanted to. Taichi disappeared at summer camp that year and the next time she saw him, he was riding on the back of a giant fire breathing dinosaur. She'd never had a chance to really speak with him in all that time, so how he got from point A to point B was still a mystery.

But then, who was to say _they_ didn't know? Maybe they did... and maybe they saw signs in Hikari that she could do the same.

On the one hand it was troubling that she she could have people from the Digimon Hunters stalking her out of fear that she could become a rogue seventh... but on the other hand, it was something she desperately hoped was true. Because if it was possible... if she could become like her brother, fighting at the front lines of the war, saving lives and truly making a difference?

She'd likely never be able to speak to her parents again... never have a normal life in any form, but it would be worth it to make that sort of difference...

Things were as expected when they arrived at the shelter. Slow and tedious. They were forced to make due with a tiny room and only a few basic amenities. They wouldn't likely be seeing anything change any time soon, either. The first people to be handled were those with friends or family in the city that they could stay with. Everyone else had to find a new home or register to be shipped out of the city on the first available military transport.

Hikari had no such family or friends. Her grandparents were the only extended family that had lived in the city, and they moved away as soon as the war started. Everyone incapable of working or fighting was required to leave Odaiba as soon as the Hunters got enough control of the city to make such a decision. Their former home had since been occupied by another refugee family and was no longer available, so they were forced to either wait for new accommodations or leave.

Hikari spent most of the first day on her laptop with a few other kids around her age, checking official reports on their sector... images, estimated casualties, Hunter resistance... whatever they could get their hands on. There wasn't much that was actually useful. Anything that could tell them what was really going on was blocked due to potential security risks, in case the Digimon managed to hack the network and gain access to those same records.

Most of the data left was questionable. The only clear fact was that the evacuation was a nearly universal success. Compared to other sectors that had been taken previously, a substantially higher percentage of people managed to get out before the barrier fell. As for the rest... Hikari couldn't tell what data was propaganda and what was honest fact, so she had far less interest in that than the rest of the kids.

Eventually she would rejoin her parents after they were finished getting talked through everything they needed to know about their new life, and together they would head to their room where Hikari assumed they would talk about their future living arrangements. Instead, she would find herself facing something entirely unexpected...

"...we're _running away_?!"

Her words, not theirs... to her parents, it was a logical choice. With the digimon attacking every day, forcing the Hunters steadily back through the city, sector by sector, it was only a matter of time before they'd have no other choice. Better to go now, before things got too dire and they had to fight for a place in line with thousands of other fleeing civilians.

"Hikari, we have no home. Your father's workplace is now near the front line. It won't be long before they have to close down. Then he won't have a job either and we'll _have_ to leave. If we go now-"

"We haven't lost yet! And the Hunters need all the help they can get, we can't just walk out on them like this!"

"Hikari! This isn't just about what we want, we have to think about our safety, as well as _yours_."

Her father promptly cut in, clearly as upset about the situation as her mother, though neither of them compared to the anger that Hikari herself was feeling in that moment...

"...and what about _Taichi's_ safety?"

The room was silent for a moment, her parents taken aback and hurt by that question. It was a low blow, she knew... a deep cut to both of them. They tried so hard to hide what they felt about Taichi and the war because they didn't want Hikari to see it. She always knew that was because it hurt them as much as it did her, to know what he was out there, putting his life on the line where they weren't, and any day they might hear that he had been captured... or worse.

Now, however, she found herself wondering. If they cared so much, how could they simply walk away knowing that he would remain behind fighting, and fighting for them no less?

"...He already made his choice, Hikari."

"Yeah, and so have _you_."

Hikari promptly stormed out of the room, down the hall and away toward... anything. Nothing. She didn't care, so long as she got far enough away from her parents that they couldn't find her.

She was beyond furious... beyond livid. All the others that treated her brother like he was their enemy... they didn't know him. They could justify their idiocy by ignorance, but her parents had no excuse. They should have known what Taichi was doing. He was trying to _save_ them! And if they did know, that was even worse... that they could walk away while he was still fighting, leaving him to die, or worse...

"Estimate how many captured?"

Hikari froze just before rounding the corner to the next hall. Beyond she heard a voice not unlike the voices of the other children she had been talking to earlier that night, though there was something distinctly different in his tone. Not a normal person... he sounded more like he was one of those military officers from the Hunters.

"No. We have no assurance that such an operation would succeed, and we can't spare the manpower. Finish current rescue operations, then withdraw behind the barriers."

Hikari moved to the wall and inched closer, listening carefully, knowing full-well that this was likely a conversation she wasn't supposed to be hearing... but she had the instincts of a cat, apparently. Curiosity...

"No. If the pattern holds, they'll secure their control of that sector first before launching their next assault. Make sure all the DA teams are positioned for immediate deployment as soon as possible, but don't attack. Do we have any leads on the rogues?"

Hikari tried to fill in the blanks of the conversation in her mind, though it was tricky, especially with a dozen other questions bouncing around in her mind, not the least of which being why this person, this... boy, was apparently giving orders instead of taking them.

"Good. That should be enough. Hopefully they'll raid that sector and give Myotismon's troops a bit of hell for us. Once they're reeling, send in the DA teams immediately for a follow-up. Combat Protocol Zero."

Without knowing Hunter protocol or anything about what was happening in the sector that had just been captured, it was difficult to make sense of everything that was being said. All that she could really tell was there was a plan to strike back, and it somehow involved the rogues... her brother's team. yet the Hunters always talked about them publicly like they were an enemy, so why did it sound like they were planning to work with them now?

"Doesn't matter. Recapturing that sector is likely impossible now anyway. I just want them to bleed Myostismon for every troop they can. If he's going to take that sector, I want him to suffer for it."

Another pause, and this time Hikari dared to peek around the corner toward the boy who was, fortunately, not paying enough attention to notice her. She hadn't seen him before in the shelter... black hair, blue jeans, yellow shirt... she couldn't see his eyes, but that was a good thing since it meant he couldn't see her, either. Ducking back around the corner, she briefly pondered why somebody who was talking about official Hunter business wasn't more paranoid and watching for people around the halls... though she quickly realized she had no idea where in the shelter she had wandered to, and most likely few people came around here in the first place.

"Make sure nobody knows. Cover it up, classify it, I don't care. Myotismon's the real enemy. We're not turning our guns on a potential asset just to satisfy some idiots over in PR. They want something to advertise, get a recording of the DA teams at work. They don't even have to know about the rogues' involvement."

Hikari felt her heart skip a beat. Classified... crap. She _really_ wasn't supposed to be here right now. If the boy looked and saw her standing nearby, listening to his conversation...

Turning away, she prepared to rush back down the hall, away from the boy before she caught something out of the corner of her eye. A security camera, zeroed in directly on her face. A security camera... in the shelter. A Hunter facility. They were watching her all this time...

"Good. Then I'll leave it in your hands – I have another lead to follow up on. Report to me as soon as there's something _to_ report."

Hearing those final words, Hikari paused, watching the camera another moment as it then turned away from her and back to its normal position watching the hall. Another lead... she waited a few more seconds, expecting the boy to come up to her from behind, but... nothing. Finally she turned around and went back down the hall, rounding the corner to find the boy still there, leaning back against the wall, apparently playing with his phone.

"That was clever."

"Hm?"

The boy glanced up, blue eyes meeting hers as if oblivious to what she was talking about, though from one look in his eyes she knew that couldn't be the case. The way he was watching her, he was clearly waiting to see how she was going to respond. A test...

"The camera. You knew I was there all along."

"And you pieced it together without any help. I guess we're _both_ clever."

The boy's face almost cracked a smile, but even that hint of joy seemed unfit for his features. He had a look about him... like she was looking into the face of death. Like the whole war could be summarized in the expression that hung on this single boy's face. Cold, hard, empty. She'd seen pain in people's eyes before, but the boy... he practically embodied it.

"So I guess that whole conversation was an act?"

"Only the part where I pretended you weren't there."

Something about his eyes was unnerving... it was like he was constantly waiting for her... expecting something. Every question she asked seemed like it had already been anticipated, and all the while it seemed like he was still expecting something that she was yet to provide. It made her feel unnervingly small, like she was constantly trying to fill his significant expectations and failing, even though she wasn't making any conscious effort to do so.

"Why would you pretend that?"

"It seemed like a bad idea to let an officer know that a civilian was spying on our conversation."

"Why would you _let_ a civilian spy on your conversation?"

"You already know the answer to that."

"Okay, why would you let the sister of one of the _rogue six_ spy on your conversation?"

"I didn't. I gave you a choice. Walk away immediately, or stay and listen. The fact that you did the latter means you have an interest in what was being said."

"So? What does that matter to _you_?"

"You're clever. Piece the rest together yourself."

The way the boy answered every question without even pausing became more unnerving with every second, and her frustration peaked at his final words. She felt like she was going through the motions of a dance she didn't even know she was a part of, and now she was being put on the spot by this... whatever this boy was.

Sighing heavily, she half turned away. Alright... figure it out. She had an interest in what was being said... well, of course she did. And assuming this boy knew everything he pretended to know, he knew it wasn't just academic. She desperately wanted a way to help out in this way, the same as...

…the same as... Taichi.

Sister of one of the rogue six... she wanted to help against the invaders somehow, just like her brother was. This boy... well, he was a boy. A child, the same age as her, working for the Hunters. She hadn't known that they even permitted children in their ranks before. The rest clicked together in her head by itself.

"...you want to recruit me."

She turned to meet his gaze, which suddenly looked much more stern. Not angry, though... simply focused. Like she was finally starting to meet a few of his lofty expectations, and now she had actually earned some real attention from him.

"But... why?"

"You heard the conversation, and you've put this much together..."

She huffed and turned away. Darn it all! Stupid boy... alright, fine, another puzzle... thinking back, she replayed the conversation in her head as best she could, trying to imagine what the other half might have been. None of it really meant anything to them here and now, except...

"When you said that thing about a 'potential asset'... you were talking about my brother and his friends, weren't you?"

One look was all she needed to confirm that suspicion. Okay, so... he wasn't an enemy of the rogues. So, a sister of one of the rogues. She was being recruited because of her connection to them, so...

"...you want me... to be your... what, diplomat to the six?"

"Liaison... but close enough."

His eyes lit up just a little then. Nothing resembling actual happiness, but nearly resembling contentment... approval, even. For a moment, at least, she felt like he wasn't looking down on her.

"How? And more importantly, why? I mean, I understand about my brother... he might not trust you, but he'd definitely trust me, but... you could still send him a message, at least. You don't _need_ a... liaison or whatever, so there's got to be more than that."

"We can't communicate with them directly. All the data channels outside of our secure network are likely being watched by Myotismon's people, and nobody in Hunter command would approve of giving the rogues open access to our network."

"You didn't answer my question."

"No, I didn't. And I won't. Not here. I have to show you, and for that, I need you to come back to Hunter command with me."

Hikari pondered the offer a moment. Tempting... but there was one hurdle they had to jump first. Even after their stupid decision earlier, she wasn't just going to disappear and leave her parents to panic and wonder what had happened to her... even if she sorely wanted to.

"My parents are planning to leave the city to get away from the fighting... I doubt they'd be happy with the idea of me going to Hunter command to join the war."

Besides, they also needed some justifiable reason to bring a child into Hunter command in the first place. Whatever child army they were apparently running wasn't public knowledge, and it was doubtful they'd want it to become so, thus they needed some kind of cover.

"Then we'll bring them with you. I already have everything prepared. We can leave whenever you're ready."

Bring them... wait, _what_?

For a moment, Hikari almost told the boy he was crazy, but something in the back of her mind told her not to. If he was really as clever as he seemed to be, he likely had all this figured out well in advance. He'd been testing her all this time. Now it was her turn to see how well _he_ could do things...

"Alright... just one question-"

She was promptly interrupted by him extending one hand to her, having once more anticipated what she was going to say well in advance.

"Katsu Fang. Pleasure to meet you, Hikari Yagami."


	2. Voices

A/U: Wow. Okay, I wasn't expecting reviews to my fic so immediately, nor was I expecting this chapter to be done as soon as it was, but here it is. It's a little shorter than I liked, but chapter 3 is going to be shifting to a very different scene, so I had to cut it off where I did. (Hmm... maybe I should have merged chapters 1 and 2... oh well, live and learn)

Ultimate Black Ace: I'm glad you're so perceptive. ;) I wasn't sure if anyone would catch that little discrepancy right away, but sure enough, someone got it. Rest assured, all the questions will be answered in due time. For now... on to chapter two~!

Chapter 2: Voices

**The family is a haven in a heartless world.**

Hikari was admittedly impressed by the way Katsu handled everything so readily, and without alerting anyone to what really going on. Her parents were met by a Hunter officer in civilian garb and asked to come to Hunter command for an 'interview.' Apparently somebody caught wind of the fact that they were registered to leave the city and their family name set off a red light somewhere in the system. Given who their son was, the Hunters had to take a few extra precautions with them before they could approve them for departure.

While her parents were dealing with that business, Hikari was led off to a waiting room... or that was what her parents heard, anyway. Instead, she was actually brought to meet with Katsu, who was waiting to take her up to the next level of the command base where she would have all her questions answered...

She expected to find herself in a command room of some sort... or maybe a communications center. Instead, she was brought to a small lab. Around her sat a myriad of various tools and weapons, likely brought there for some kind of testing. However, the centerpiece of the lab was a large cylindrical chamber in the center of the room, plugged into computers on all sides that were busy running millions of calculations on whatever was contained inside.

"Anything?"

Katsu stepped forward to meet the head researcher. Others in the lab glanced Hikari's direction while the two of them spoke, but nobody said anything. She noticed immediately a deep sense of... was it fear? Not of her, certainly, but this boy... Only a few people she had seen in the base thus far seemed willing to even address him except to acknowledge his orders. Even the lead researcher seemed to be on edge...

She understood, after a fashion. The boy disturbed her as well, but she was a civilian. She wasn't surrounded by death and war every minute like they were. They should have been hardened to something like this... right?

Well, apparently not.

"Not yet. The system seems to be caught in a feedback loop, like the device is trying to scan our systems while _we_ scan _it_. We're getting lots of data, but nothing we can make any sense of."

"Do you have a copy ready?"

"Oh... yes sir. Just finished it when you arrived."

The researcher went over to a nearby table to retrieve something that resembled a flash drive, albeit larger than most she had seen before. Katsu took it promptly and pocketed it before motioning to the chamber in the middle of the room.

"Now open it."

Several pairs of eyes glanced his way, and the head researcher looked to him in confusion.

"Uh... sir, we can't. We'd have to shut everything down, and then we have no assurance that we'd be even able to bring the device online again."

Hikari half-wondered if Katsu was going to have the man dismissed... or maybe even shot. But he didn't respond with anger as she expected. Instead, he simply, and quite calmly, stepped up to the main console and typed in a quick string of commands. A few seconds later all of the computers linked to the center chamber began shutting off, one by one.

"Disconnect everything. Open it."

To say the head researcher wasn't pleased was a massive understatement, but he obliged regardless, and all the researchers stood and moved to begin disconnecting their own consoles from the chamber as Katsu turned his attention back to Hikari.

"Each of the rogues carries a small data processing device. All the scans show them becoming active whenever their digimon companions shift forms. I assume you've seen the videos?"

Hikari nodded, glancing to the chamber and wondering what this had to do with what she was brought here for.

"They're also active whenever the rogues enter or exit any of their dimensional gates to or from the digital world. We've figured out how to stop the gate jumps by locking down our systems, but we still don't know exactly how these 'digivices' work. They seem to operate on data principles similar to digimon themselves – in essence, they're partially alive. We can't produce anything that can emulate how they work, or even mimic the data frequency they use, though we're desperately trying to do that latter."

"Why?"

Hikari's eyes shifted curiously between the boy and the chamber, a hunch lingering at the edge of her mind...

"Because... the devices don't just link the rogues to their digimon. They're also linked to _each other_."

Finally the chamber opened and Hikari could look in to see... resting at the center, connected to dozens of cables and other assorted sensors that were currently nonfunctional, was a small, almost rectangular device of some sort. It didn't take a genius to figure out what it was...

"We've had this device linked to our systems for several months, feeding it data to try to get it to become active. We had no success until the guard post at the south gate of your sector accessed your ID."

Hikari froze. Her ID... it reacted to _her_? Did that mean...

"Pick it up."

Hikari was suddenly conscious of all eyes on the room being focused squarely on her. Her gaze went up to meet the head researcher, whose own expression had apparently changed to one of surprise. He hadn't known who Hikari was before Katsu said those words, so now his previous perturbation had turned to anticipation.

A digivice like her brother's... reacting to her. It took all her self-control to keep herself from running up and ripping the device right out of the stand it was being held in. Still, she couldn't hide her own anticipation as she slowly approached the chamber... though she didn't know what the device would do once she took it, the prospect that it might give her any sort of power like Taichi had made her almost giddy with excitement. And even if it didn't, just the thought that she would be able to talk to her brother again after three long years...

Granted, she was terrified by the prospect of handling power that could leave the world in ruins... but what deed worth doing didn't carry some sort of risk?

The instant her finger touched the surface of the device it erupted with a nearly blinding light. And yet she didn't recoil. Instead she took firm hold of it even as all the systems around her became active again, flooded with data from the device even without any of the sensors to aid them. After a few seconds the light died down and Hikari drew her arm out of the chamber and opened her hand to take a closer look at the device, which had now become fully active.

For a few seconds, Hikari didn't know what to think. She simply stared at the device, almost too stunned to believe it. She had... she was... she was like them... like her brother. She had the same power he did, and now she could help him...

"Contact him."

Hikari's eyes shot up to meet Katsu's. For a moment her mind didn't register the order he was giving, and then it struck her. Linked to each other... anything outside their networks was being watched by Myotismon's digimon, but these... the digivices didn't fit into any of the normal networks.

"How... how do I-"

"It's linked to _you_, Hikari. Synchronized with your mind and emotions. Don't ask _us_ how to work it."

She nodded and glanced down to the device in her hands again. Three buttons... no idea what any of them did, but she had a hunch... an instinctive urge... she wanted to contact her brother, and she felt she knew how to do it. No idea _how_ she knew, but did that matter?

Pushing the button that her instincts directed her to, the screen promptly lit up. Clearing her throat, she lifted the device to her mouth, speaking in the clearest voice she could muster.

"Taichi..."

She took a deep breath, unsure of how her brother would react to this... assuming he was hearing her at all. They hadn't spoken in years, and now...

"Taichi, are you there?"

A few seconds passed before a familiar voice would cut through the static from the other end. It was a bit different than she remembered. Lower... older, of course, but still the same boy she remembered.

"_Hikari_? Hikari, is that _you_?"

Hikari quickly covered her mouth with her free hand, choking back a sob. Taichi... it was him. Her brother... she was talking to him again. A thousand nights she had gone to sleep thinking she never would... that he would be dead, or _she_ would, before they ever met again, but now...

"Yeah... yeah, Tai. It's me. I'm here."

Suddenly another voice cut through the static. This one wasn't familiar, but she could make a rough guess who it was... only five real possibilities, after all.

"How are you communicating with us?"

Hikari took another deep breath and cleared her voice again, trying to calm herself. Right... business. She couldn't get too caught up in sentimentality... not yet, anyway.

"I have a... a device like the ones you all have."

"How'd you get a _digivice_?"

Hikari paused and glanced up to Katsu. Digivice... he'd used that exact same name for it. So how did he know it was called that? All the researchers glanced up as well, previously too preoccupied by the data on their consoles to pay any attention, but that one word had caught their ears as well. They were all thinking the same thing, yet no one dared ask the question. As for Hikari, one look from Katsu made it clear to her that she wouldn't be getting an answer anyway, so she turned her attention back to the digivice and the new voice.

"I was... given it. By the Hunters."

"The HUNTERS?! Hikari, what-"

Taichi's voice was promptly cut off from the other voice, who, though significantly more controlled, was still clearly a little unnerved by her answer.

"How did they get their hands on a digivice in the first place?"

Hikari glanced over to the researcher. Surprisingly, he shook his head and shrugged, uncertain as to what to say. So the researchers didn't even know where they got this thing?

"We found it. A team on a field mission in a captured sector of Odaiba located it."

Katsu muttered in a low tone, too low to be heard by anybody listening through another digivice. The fact that he was standing back so far as well made it clear that he had no desire to be heard by anyone on the other end. Now _there_ was the paranoia she had expected on their first meeting...

"They found it in Odaiba while fighting the invaders. I don't know anything else... I just... they gave it to me, I picked it up and it turned on, so I guess... it's mine."

There was silence for a few seconds as Hikari heard somebody enter the door to the lab. The man had the look of an officer, though his uniform had none of the standard markings. Tall, hard features, with dark brown eyes and brown hair spotted with gray... and Hikari could have sworn he looked familiar even though she'd never seen him before.

The man glanced to Katsu and then to her, obviously somewhat surprised to see the device now active and being used, though not as shocked as he should have been if he'd known nothing about Hikari's arrival. Obviously he was at least somewhat in the know with this...

"Hikari, do you know why the Hunters gave you the digivice?"

The man stepped forward toward Hikari, motioning to the device in her hand.

"May I?"

She nodded and held the digivice up, unsure if it would continue to work if it left her hands, and she didn't want to risk it.

"I'm sure you all know about the fall of Residential Sector eight, so I'll get right to the point. Myotismon's digimon are starting to set up camp and secure control of the sector. We have several of our best attack teams armed and waiting for the order to counterattack... we want to hit while the enemy is most vulnerable, which is now."

"Wait, is that..."

Another faint voice came from the other end, from another male that Hikari didn't recognize. However, it was quickly cut off by the earlier voice.

"Even your best teams wouldn't last long with how many digimon are swarming in that sector right now. They may not be fortified, but they're far from vulnerable."

"For us, yes..."

The man's voice trailed off and he waited. After a few seconds Taichi cut back in, lower and more controlled than it had been a moment before. Like everyone else, he had been hardened by the years of war, and now that they were down to business it was coming out...

"You want us to hit first. Soften them up, give you an opening to come in."

"Even if you do, you won't be able to retake control of the area. Myotismon will just send more backup."

The other voice again and Hikari could hear Katsu's voice in her head, replaying his conversation. She already knew what the man's reply would be, having heard it first from the original source.

"We aren't trying to retake anything. We're trying to bleed Myotismon's army for everything we can. This mission is strictly off the books... joint effort. No civilians around, so collateral damage doesn't matter. Drop a building on his troops if it helps. We don't care. We just want to cause as much damage as possible, to give Myotismon a bloody nose and to give our boys on the other fronts a breather, if possible."

Finally the newest voice cut back in, blatantly interrupting the discussion, but Hikari couldn't really blame him given the first words that she heard...

"Dad... is that you?"

The man's features dropped slightly. His fatigue showed through then... perhaps the source of those gray hairs he was showing despite being fairly young. He must have been about the same age as her own parents, though he looked far older...

"Hey, Yamato... been a long time."

"Dad... you're working with the Hunters?"

"Just doing my part, kid... same as you, I guess."

"Dad, I-"

"Later, Yamato... there's too much to talk about, and now isn't the time. We have a war to fight first."

"Yeah... yeah, you're right. Sorry."

Yamato's voice trailed off and faded from the conversation as the nameless voice came back. Hikari glanced up to see the man run his hand down his face in a mix of frustration and fatigue. He wasn't really prepared for this, obviously... still, he was holding up fairly well, all things considered.

"A follow up wouldn't be viable. You'd take too many casualties. If this is going to be a joint attack, you need to come in while we're still in the sector. Can you make sure your men don't attack us?"

The man sighed and cleared his throat before nodding, even though he knew nobody on the other end could see it.

"These are special-ops boys... they know that PR and reality usually have nothing to do with each other. It doesn't matter what anybody says about you, they'll follow orders, and if you help them kill Myotismon's troops, they'll be more than happy to watch your back."

There was silence again, this one longer than any of the previous ones. For a moment Hikari considered asking them if anything was wrong, but Taichi's voice finally returned a moment before she did.

"Alright, we're all on board. But we have a... small condition to add."

"Name it."

"When this mission is over, we want Hikari to get in contact with... our families. All of them. We can't talk to them personally, but with Hikari's digivice-"

"Done. And I don't care if the guys upstairs don't approve. I'll make sure it gets approved somehow. Just... stay safe, all of you. I... I don't want to have to tell any of your parents that they lost a child."

"...I understand."

Hikari could hear something else in both their voices, then... an unspoken understanding of something that wasn't being mentioned. Still, she wouldn't pry... she wouldn't need to. Chances were she would hear everything sooner or later as she would have to be present for the conversations between the rogues and their families.

"What's the timetable for this operation?"

The other voice again, clearly the thinker and planner of the group. The man glanced over toward Katsu again, who raised one hand slightly to make basic a motion with three fingers. The man nodded and turned back to the digivice again, returning to his best military-voice.

"Three hours. We need to finish getting all the survivors out who got left behind in the initial evacuation. After that, our teams will be ready to strike at any time."

"Three hours, twenty minutes, in case your operation goes long, then we strike. Set your clock to three hours, thirty minutes. We need a chance to soften them up before your teams come in. Clear?"

"Clear. Setting now. Three hours, thirty minutes in three... two... one... mark."

As he spoke, the man motioned to Katsu and several of the men in the lab, who all set their clocks by his signal, after which they promptly went to relaying the data to whatever other division would be needing it.

"We're set. Um... Yamato's dad..."

Taichi's voice trailed off as he struggled to find a name somewhere in his memory from a past conversation with Yamato.

"Masaharu."

"Yeah, Masaharu... we have to get ready for the operation now, but... thank you."

"For what? You're the ones helping _us_."

"No, we're all helping each other. Thank you for... giving us a chance. It's... been a long time since we've had friends in the human world."

Masaharu went silent for a moment, that fatigue catching up with him again. The rogue six had been enemies to most of the human race for three years... some even outcast from their own friends and families. His own son with them... knowing what he must have gone through in that time... it would likely give him a few more gray hairs before the day was done.

"Don't mention it... we owe you a lot more than that for all you've done in the past three years. Just make sure I hear from you all again soon."

Several voices of acknowledgment came through, including two girls. Probably the whole team right there... then Taichi promptly took the lead again.

"Hikari?"

Hikari would finally lower the digivice back to her own face as Masaharu turned to leave the room, letting out a sigh of mixed relief and fatigue. Three years of pent up emotion was a lot to face all at once... but it was good to get at least a little of it out.

"Yeah?"

"I love you. Tell mom and dad I love them too, and they'll be hearing from me soon."

Hikari nodded slowly, taking a deep breath to hold in the tears that started to form. It was only then that she realized how scared she had been... scared that three years of war and hell would have turned her brother into a stranger that she didn't recognize anymore. But now she knew... he was the same Taichi she always knew. Harder, stronger... a bit more tired from all the war, but not distant. Still family... always family.

"I love you too, big brother... talk to you soon."

The signal was cut off and Hikari took another deep breath, steadying herself. Not here... not in the lab. She could cry later, when she was alone. She had to stay strong... for herself, and for everyone else. Finally, after a minute of bringing her nerves back under control she would turn back to Katsu, who was patiently waiting for her with that same stone-cold gaze.

"...I need to see my parents."


	3. The Devil's Arms

N/A: Yup, definitely should have combined chapters 1 and 2. This one is as long as those two put together. Oh well. Thank you everyone for the reviews, follows, and... a favorite. After only two chapters. Really? o.o Okay, I'm not sure how that happened, but here's hoping I don't disappoint.

Chapter 3: The Devil's Arms

**War is cruelty. There is no use trying to reform it. The crueler it is, the sooner it will be over.**

Three hours, twenty minutes...

Mark.

No warning, no hesitation. Koushiro flipped the switch and they digidestined were through and their partners digivolving as soon as Myotismon's legions caught sight of them.

The rough scans they had of the area showed several enormous blobs, clusters of digimon numbering in the hundreds. Estimated total, well over two thousand in the entire sector. They were marching into hell, and they all knew it... but Masaharu was right. The Hunters were right. This was the time the enemy would be most vulnerable.

Perhaps only this once, though... they had never attempted to drop in on an army this massive before, and why would they? It seemed suicidal, and Myotismon would know as much. Which was exactly why he would never expect an attack. After this, he would be more careful the next time... have his armies more prepared to meet a counterattack, but this time... this one and only time, they had the advantage.

Therefore, the digidestined had to make sure they didn't need a next time. Don't just bleed them out, bleed them _dry_.

Despite all their desperate searching, the digidestined had only been able to locate three of their six crests... Courage, Friendship, Knowledge. Half their team wasn't fully armed for this sort of assault, so they had to play it smart. And smart meant putting the remaining three at the front of the line to lay into the enemies first.

While Jou and Mimi took to the ground with Ikkakumon and Togemon, Birdamon covered them from the air, laying burning rain down on anybody that tried to sneak up on them. Meanwhile, the three digidestined armed with crests split up. Yamato and Garurumon ran the streets while Kabuterimon took to the skies with Koushiro, Taichi and Agumon on his back. Their job was to scout, clean up any stragglers, and wait...

Taichi glanced over toward where Birdamon was, laying down another wave of fire on a cluster of fleeing enemies. Still safe... good. She was the one in the most danger so high up in the sky. Too easy of a target... it made him nervous, especially with this many enemies nearby, but he didn't let it get to him. They had to focus.

"Yamato, how's your progress?"

Taichi had to shout into his digivice to be heard over the sound of the wind, Kabuterimon's wings, and the background fighting. This was more annoying than fighting in the digital world... the odd physics of that place made certain things easier for them.

"We've caught their attention. Got a couple groups on our tail. Gonna grab a few more before we come by you. I'll let you know when I'm ready."

Taichi gave a quick acknowledgment and turned back to Koushiro who was sitting just ahead of him with his laptop.

"How's it looking?"

"The clusters are all active, but none are moving our way yet. It's chaos out there. They know about the attack, but nobody's responding yet. I think some of them don't even know where the attack is coming from!"

"Should we shift our plan? Take the fight to them first?"

"Negative. For safety, we need to avoid scattering. We can re-adjust once the first cluster disperses, but we need to stay together until the Hunter strike teams arrive for backup."

"Got it."

Taichi moved ahead and jumped onto the top of Kabuterimon's helmet, holding onto his horn and leaning forward to look down on the ground ahead of them. All clear... all right, nothing to do here yet.

"Kabuterimon! Pull back around and head back toward Birdramon! Yamato, you there?"

"Here. We've got a small army after us now. Heading your way. Sora, you ready?"

"Ready. Where are you coming from?"

"East side, heading south."

"Kabuterimon, you hear that?"

Taichi shouted down and the digimon gave quick confirmation, turning to move ahead of Yamato. He wasn't lying... when he finally came into sight, there was a massive cluster of enemies behind him. A good hundred, at least, and all of them fast. They'd have to be to keep up with Garurumon... well, good. Those guys were always pesky to deal with.

As they rushed by the street where Birdamon waited, the avian quickly laid down a line of fire across the entire swarm. Dozens went down immediately. Countless more began to scatter to avoid the flames before turning their attention back to their enemies. The wolf on one side, the bird on the other. But by then it was already too late.

A stream of blue fire from Garurumon's mouth and a surge of lightning from the sky would be enough to tear through most of the enemies that remained, and one more burning rain across the whole street would force the rest to flee or be incinerated. Garurumon went to cutting down the stragglers while Taichi and Sora turned their attention to Jou as his voice came up from their digivices.

"Taichi, we're almost done here. No sign of more enemies approaching yet, either."

Taichi called Kabuterimon to come around and head back toward Ikkakumon and the others and then make a large sweep around the area along with Birdamon. He was right... only a few enemies scattered around here and there, and most were fleeing back to one of the other clusters. Well, that was fast.

"Time to change the plan."

Taichi quickly shouted into his digivice and glanced over to Koushiro, who was busy checking his data.

"Crap! They're consolidating their forces! We can't attack them now, we'd be taking on all the enemies in this sector!"

"Got any other ideas?"

Yamato sounded through the digivice as Garurumon made his way through the streets, back toward the rest of the team.

"Just one... Everyone, go for the buildings! Target a single corner and attack _only once_! Weaken the supports, but don't collapse anything yet. We need to maintain structural integrity until we get the enemies into the danger zone, then we drop the whole city on them!"

"I can't believe we're turning homes into weapons..."

Jou's voice sounded through the digivice even as the group scattered and began turning the sector into a hazard zone for their enemies. Koushiro glanced up to Taichi, who shared his look and thoughts. Jou was right... this was a step beyond what they were used to. This was their home and they'd all sworn to protect it, not tear it down, but... this was war. They knew what they had to do.

"Small price to pay to turn this war around."

That was all Taichi would say. The others would understand, he knew... though he would hate himself for it... hate himself, and hate Myotismon twice as much for forcing them to do this. Still, these were houses, not lives. The former was worth losing to save the latter.

They went through quickly enough, tearing out countless support beams and prepping the sector for demolition. Soon enough, however, a flashing marker on Koushiro's computer would indicate their dilemma.

"Out of time! Everyone, pull back, they're heading this way!"

"Taichi,"

Taichi froze for a moment, grabbing his digivice as a familiar voice cut through again.

"_Hikari?_"

"Three hours, thirty minutes. The DA teams are on their way."

The whole team breathed a collective sigh of relief. While Hunter weapons weren't nearly as effective as a digivolved partner at their side, having several squads of the best soldiers and weapons the Hunters could provide would be a fantastic boon to them, especially right now.

"What does DA stand for?"

Mimi's voice this time, asking a question they were all wondering but nobody else bothered to ask because they were too distracted being relieved by the news. Hikari's voice would sound a final time, carrying a firm note of satisfaction. This was the first time she had been able to do something to help her brother in a fight, and it felt good...

"Devil's Arms. You'll see why in a minute."

She'd been briefed on some of their armament just before the operation began, and though she wasn't a military expert by any means, she knew enough to know that these men were nothing to scoff at. Compared to the standard army, they certainly lived up to their name...

The digidestined waited as the two armies rushed toward them, one from ahead and the other from behind. The DA teams were, fortunately enough, the closer of the two, so they would be the first to arrive. Surprisingly enough, they would stop short of the line of damaged buildings. Taichi would be confused for a moment before the realization struck him. Of course... Hikari was listening through her digivice.

"Down!"

Taichi ordered and Kabuterimon brought him down near one of the Hunter vehicles that was waving to them. Taichi and Agumon dropped off there before Kabuterimon took to the air again, rushing to the side of the vehicle where the ranking officer waited.

"Taichi Yagami?"

"That's me. You up to date on the plan?"

"Yeah, though we need to make a revision. Don't drop all the buildings. Funnel the enemies into a single street. We'll consolidate there and make a stand. You and your friends stay out of our line of fire surround them."

Taichi nodded and turned around. First things first... Agumon quickly digivolved into Greymon and Taichi took to his back. Then he was on the line with the others, relaying the new orders across the entire team.

"Wait as long as you can – get as many enemies in the fall as possible, but make sure you get _all_ the buildings down! We need to funnel them in here!"

"And don't drop anything early. We don't want them figuring out what we're planning, otherwise they'll disperse and the plan will be less effective."

Koushiro quickly piped in, ever the meticulous planner. For a computer nerd, he was quite the savvy tactician in wartime...

Finally, their time was up. The flood came into clear view. Each digidestined in their own place held the line, waiting as long as possible to wait for the final moment... they'd run ambushes like this before, they knew the drill, though they never quite felt comfortable with it. Still, they would hold the line and do as ordered. As Taichi always said, wait for the whites of their eyes... never before...

The cacophony was deafening. The cascading sounds of attacking digimon and collapsing buildings threw all the enemies off-guard, making it impossible for any of them to be in any right mind to flee when the debris came down. Then another storm followed for those that had the misfortune of coming down the central street were caught off-guard in a completely different way.

Most Hunter weapons were data-based firearms and some area-discharge devices that resembled explosives. Typical military firearms. Even the digidestined had expected that sort of thing, only on a larger scale. Instead, the street was set alight by what looked like a massive electrical storm... some kind of lightning gun. However, the effect would be far more severe than a simple stream of energy.

In the wake of the storm, the digidestined would see countless hundreds of digimon struck by the gun now disfigured, some mangled and even some completely missing limbs. Slowly they would each begin to reform as their scrambled data began to automatically correct itself, but by then the storm of lasers and explosives would begin tearing through them like a machete through paper.

"What the HELL was that?!"

Sora would be the first to voice their mutual shock and borderline horror. That the Hunters had a weapon like that... why did they think they needed the digidestined's help in the first place?

Their internal questions would be answered through their digivices, from the voice of Masaharu...

"Data storm. Writes random bits into a digimon's code. It's not as dangerous as it looks. They filter their data pretty fast, and it takes a while to reset and reload, so it's only good for a single shot. But-"

He'd never have a chance to finish that sentence before Taichi would suddenly be on top of their comm, shouting a command to the united digidestined team.

"ONE SHOT – EVERYONE ATTACK! KOUSHIRO, YAMATO, _NOW!_"

Greymon, Kabuterimon, and Garurumon digivolved in unison. While the combined trio of their adult-level friends flanked from the left, WereGarurumon immediately came around from the right and began laying waste to everything in sight, knocking out the corner supports of another apartment building to drop it on a large cluster of enemies before rushing over the rubble and into the heart of the fray.

Meanwhile, MegaKabuterimon followed suit in the air, diving in with his horn and ramming straight through the heart of the enemies clustered in the sky to scatter them. MetalGreymon followed up immediately with a barrage of missiles while the Hunters targeted the enemies on the ground as well as any stragglers that escaped the digidestined's attacks.

"MetalGreymon, whatever you do, _don't stop attacking_! Sora, how are you guys doing?"

"At our limit, but we're holding."

Sora paused a moment as Birdramon let off another volley, clearing another cluster of enemies.

"Most of them are focusing on you three! I'm not sure why – we're the weakest front here!"

Taichi paused a moment. She was right... they should have been trying to attack the weak point and force them back. Right now they were playing to the digidestined's strengths... but why? Even a rabid beast knew better than to hit the enemy where it was strongest. What did they have to gain from flooding the strongest-

"Taichi! We've got a problem!"

Damn it. _That_ would be it...

"Cluster of enemies at the rear! All perfects! We got out in one piece, but they're coming right at you guys!"

"How many?"

"Well over thirty strong, but we couldn't down to the street level very well! Could be as many as fifty!"

"_FIFTY?!_"

Fortunately, the digimon were not as stunned as their human companions, for if their attacks had stopped they would have been in even more dire straits than they already were. Fifty perfect-level digimon, and all of them after the swarm of children and adults sent to wear them down first. They thought they were fighting brutally, but Myotismon was a thousand times worse... throwing away an entire army without a care, just to weaken them enough for the main force to be able to take them out without a problem.

Taichi froze a moment, not even sure where to go from there. To stop attacking would mean they would become overwhelmed by the swarm that was on them in that moment. To keep attacking would only burn time before their doom arrived. No way out...

"Taichi!"

Masaharu again, through the digivice. No idea how he could possibly help, but at least he was on their side, right?

"I'm here!"

"We've linked up our comms on this end. Speakers and mic, right next to Hikari's digivice, it's rough, but you can talk to the DA teams this way. Go!"

Taichi froze another moment, still unsure of what to say or do. They needed a way out. They needed... a distraction. The perfects were... after them. Perfect to perfect, targeting their most powerful enemies. Alright, blood-sucker, I'll give you what you want...

"DA teams, if you've been saving anything, now's the time for it! WereGarurumon, MegaKabuterimon, clear the streets! Everyone, prepare for a full retreat! MetalGreymon, go around, we're gonna flank 'em!"

Taichi registered somewhere in the back of his mind someone screaming at him through his digivice, but he was too focused on his current objective to know who. Suicide mission? Absolutely. But it would occupy the perfects long enough to give everyone else a chance to get out.

The perfects would see him coming well before he got to them, and all of the airborne enemies would break off from the main group to intercept him. Koushiro wasn't kidding... at least twenty in the air, against his one... sorry, Hikari... mom... dad... I guess I won't be talking to you anytime soon, after all...

"Magical game."

Suddenly Taichi would feel something... peculiar, to say the least. Some force that wrapped around him and MetalGreymon that felt like... silk woven from lightning. He didn't understand what it was or where it came from, but he could see the effect right away, as the digimon that had been rushing at him suddenly stopped, confused, as if...

"I've cloaked you, but it won't last. It will fall as soon as you make your first attack, so you'd best make it count..."

Taichi glanced around, but whoever was speaking was cloaked as well, and unlike MetalGreymon beneath him, Taichi couldn't see them. Well, no matter. One chance, then... alright, let's make it good.

"Move around. Bypass the air, go for the guys on the ground..."

Taichi briefly cut off his digivice's speaker so that none of the enemies caught the sound of his screaming friends coming through as he passed by them. They would notice something, of course... a brief wind as the enormous dinosaur flew past them, but without being able to see him they wouldn't know what was responsible for it and he would be well past them before they started to suspect the truth.

Turned out Koushiro was wrong... there were at least forty more perfects on the ground. Sixty, not fifty. Well, damn... only one thing to do, then.

"Strafe them. Fly over and fire every missile you have left. Destroy _everything_ you see."

Taichi muttered in a low tone and MetalGreymon nodded slightly, arming to go...

* * *

"Taichi! Stop! That's insane!"

Sora screamed into her digivice, but to no avail. Taichi didn't hear a word she said. He rushed off anyway, and she... damn it! She couldn't do a thing to stop him! She was still preoccupied with the digimon ahead of her. They couldn't stop the rain of fire for a second or Ikkakumon and Togemon would become overwhelmed.

"Everyone, do as he says!"

Yamato's voice cut through the panic on the all the speakers. Ever true to his element, like ice when things were at their worst... calm, collected, and though he played a secondary role to Taichi, nobody questioned his leadership when he felt the need to take charge.

"Koushiro, take out what you can, then double back and go get that idiot before he kills himself! DA teams! Can you get out of there alright?"

"We'll need one of you to drop a building on this street first, but we can manage. Just give us a minute. We're readying the data storm for a second attack. It won't have the punch of the first, but it'll distract them and give you all a shot to run."

"Warn us before you fire, I don't want any of us to get hit!"

Yamato shouted as WereGarurumon rushed down to the main street toward the Hunters, right down the center of the enemy force, still attacking and tearing enemies apart in all directions. He needed to get as close to that building so he could drop it immediately after their weapon fired...

"Uh... Yamato, problem!"

Great... what now?

"Make it quick, Koushiro. We're running out of time."

"Taichi's... uh... _gone!_"

Yamato felt his blood run cold for a moment before his leadership instincts kicked in and calmed him down. Gone... to most that would mean dead, but Koushiro wasn't most people. He was more mechanical, more precise... if Taichi had been killed, he'd have said it in as many words, so...

"What do you mean _gone_?"

"I mean he just vanished into thin air! Invisible, teleported... I don't know, he's just _gone!_"

Well, that was... unexpected. Though actually quite comforting, all things considered. That would mean he was safe... most likely. Now the rest of them just needed to figure out a way out of this mess and they'd be doing great.

"Alright, get back here and help clear the streets. Cover the others' retreat when it's time. I'll guard the Hunters."

WereGarurumon ducked to the side as he got near enough to the Hunters that the shield of dying enemies no longer blocked all their shots. He rapidly ascended the nearest building and from there jumped across several rooftops before descending at the far end of the building nearest to the Hunters. Knocking out the nearest corner support for the structure, WereGarurumon quickly made a run around the far side, bounding over the rubble covering the next street to join the Hunters positioned across the street.

"Ready to drop it. Hunters?"

"Almost charged. Less than a minute to go."

"Good... Koushiro?"

"Pulling back now. Rejoi- what the heck?!"

Nobody had to ask what caught Koushiro's attention. They could all see and hear it clearly enough... MetalGreymon, flying down the main road that the enemy digimon were taking, fast as he could, emptying all of his missiles down onto the streets. Left, right, left, right... and all the while, rapidly extending his metal claw to stab out the supports on the buildings to one side, collapsing them on the enemies in quick succession.

How did he get that far behind the enemy lines? How did he not get caught by the other perfects? Would he run out of missiles before he reached the Hunters? None of those questions mattered! All that mattered was that he was laying waste to everything in sight and he was flying straight at the rest of the team with at least twenty perfect digimon on his tail. The strongest ground-based enemies had been buried in the rubble, fortunately enough. Though they would likely survive, it meant they couldn't interfere with the withdrawal.

However, this also posed a problem...

"Firing the data storm!"

"What? Wait! Sto-"

Yamato had no chance to call them off before the attack tore through the streets, mangling all the digimon ahead of them for several city blocks. However, the sound of missile explosions indicated that MetalGreymon was still moving. Must've been outside the weapon's range. For a moment he'd feared that wouldn't be the case, and nearly had a heart attack at the prospect of MetalGreymon getting caught in the blast.

"Kid, the support! Blow it!"

Yamato snapped back to attention as WereGarurumon smashed his leg through the concrete support at his side, collapsing the building down on the few enemies that were close enough to get caught in the fall. Immediately the Hunters began to scatter, save for a single vehicle. Before Yamato could try to figure out why, he was being shouted out through the comm again.

"Yamato! The others are save! The data storm interfered with the enemies enough to give them a safe retreat! I'm going back to help Taichi!"

"We still need a way to get you two out of here, Koushiro!"

"We've got that covered."

Masaharu back again... his dad. Seems they owed as much to the Hunters today as the Hunters would be owing them.

"The DA teams left a vehicle behind. Derelict. No weapons, just a laptop mounted on top, plugged into the vehicle's battery. Use that to open a gate and retreat."

"On our way."

Sora sounded back as she came into view for Yamato, with Birdramon soaring over several buildings with Sora, Jou, Mimi, and their devolved partners in tow.

"You guys go! We'll be right there!"

Yamato's eyes went wide at the sound of Taichi's voice over the comm again. Snatching his up immediately, he shouted back the first thing that came to mind...

"Taichi, you _stupid, arrogant, son of a bitch!_ Where the _hell_ did you go?!"

"Invisible. Had to cut off my comm so the bad guys couldn't hear me. I'll tell you all about it later, just _run_!"

Yamato growled and motioned for WereGarurumon to make a run for the gate as the others neared it. Birdramon dropped everyone to the ground and quickly devolved, waiting with the rest of them for Yamato and a quickly devolved Gabumon to catch up so they could all depart through the gate together.

"Taichi, if you die here, I swear I'll kill you."

Yamato would hear a laugh from the other end of the comm but he'd ignore it, quickly jumping through the gate with the others and just hoping... praying that Koushiro and Taichi made it out safe.

As for those two, they were having a rather interesting time at running... MetalGreymon had nearly run out of missiles, so he had ceased his barrage. Diving down to almost street-level right ahead of him, MegaKabuterimon flew through the crowd of enemies, both literally and figuratively, clearing the way for MetalGreymon and leaving a wake of demolished enemies to distract the pursuing perfects. It worked, though not as well as they would have hoped. It made them hard to see, and thus hard to hit, but it didn't slow the enemies as much as Koushiro expected.

Oh well, good enough. All they had to do was keep their lead and make it to the gate first.

As the final collapsed building came into view, MegaKabuterimon pulled up to avoid demolishing the barrier and risking knocking some of the debris toward the vehicle or the computer mounted atop it.

MetalGreymon, on the other hand, went even higher, practically spiking from horizontal flight to straight vertical flight.

Taichi had a plan... he always had one, right? Sometimes completely insane, but at least he was never without one.

As Taichi went up, MetalGreymon fired off his final barrage of missiles. Koushiro, for his part, had no idea what he was planning, but they'd always established that he was an idiot, right? Might as well let him do his thing. As MegaKabuterimon rushed for the computer and Koushiro activated it with his digivice, he caught a glimpse of the missiles turning upward just as he and his partner flew through the gate, still in perfect form.

Then MetalGreymon made a dive, straight back down to pick up speed before turning up sharply and taking that speed straight into the gate. One simple motion, one bright light, and he was on his way back to the digital world in the same fashion as Koushiro. And in his wake, two missiles coming down, straight for the vehicle, utterly obliterating it to prevent any of the perfects from following them back to the digital world.

As they emerged in the digital world, MetalGreymon continued flying forward, missing all of his comrades who had already moved clear of the gate. Slowing to a halt, Taichi let out a heavy sigh of relief and dismounted from his companion's back before he quickly devolved back to Koromon and collapsed with an equally heavy sigh of exhaustion.

Taichi almost moved to pick him up before hearing the sound of his friends behind him. Turning, he was promptly greeted by a fist to the face. Hard enough to leave a bruise, though likely no more than that. He'd been hit harder by that same hand before...

"You IDIOT! Of all the stupid, suicidal, DUMBASS things you've done, that was the _worst_!"

Taichi reeled back for a moment and blinked. It took his moment to register what was happening, but he made sense of it quickly enough. Yamato, the ice man... do things right, do them well, do them carefully... Taichi made him furious with things like that suicide run, because they scared him... always looking out for the team. Friendship _was_ his defining trait, after all.

As the realization set in, Taichi, rather inexplicably... started to laugh. He would also flinch slightly from the pain on his face, but that would go away. The rest of this would not. As his laughter grew he would inevitably end up grabbing Yamato and hugging him, followed by Sora and then whoever else happened to be close by. It would take a few seconds of prying him off and calming him down before anybody would finally make sense of his reaction.

"We did it... we actually _did_ it! A whole sector... two thousand digimon, an army of perfects... and we won! We ran in, we hit them head-on, and we _won!_ I don't care how many they have left, _we! Did! It!_"

His laughter would resume then, unabated for a good two or three minutes, at least. The joy of the moment would be contagious, though none of the others would react with quite the same level of glee as he did... still, as his words set in, the mood of the entire moment quickly turned around.

By the end he was holding Koromon and sitting at the base of a nearby tree, still laughing in small spurts. Meanwhile, Koushiro got into contact with Hikari and the Hunters again to report their end of the operation and find out what had happened with the DA teams. The news was encouraging on the one hand. On the other, however...

"If we tell Taichi, he'll never calm down..."

Taichi let out another quick laugh before standing, apparently catching wind of Koushiro's mutterings.

"Go ahead... I think I'm good now."

Koushiro took a deep breath. Oh well... if Taichi died, at least it would be from an overdose of joy, not grief.

"The Hunters report a few minor injuries and some damage to equipment... but no casualties."

Taichi choked back another laugh, but before he broke out into another fit he grabbed his digivice. Might as well do this before becoming useless for another five minutes.

"Hikari... you there?"

"Yeah, I'm here... we did it, brother."

Taichi's face formed the widest smile he could remember having since... well, maybe ever. Certainly in the last three years, at least. Nobody ever smiled that wide in the hell that was this war.

"Yeah... yeah, we did..."

"For a start."

Masaharu's voice cut in over the comm. Despite his words being a bit more of a downer, he sounded rather happy, all things considered.

"We've still got a ways to go, though. Listen... we need to debrief our boys on this end and assess the overall situation. I suggest you all settle in and find a safe place... Koushiro, get your data together. We'll contact you for a joint debriefing afterward. Sound good?"

"Right-o, mister Ishida. We'll talk to you then..."

Taichi muttered back through the comm and glanced to everyone else, making sure they were all good to go before glancing to Koushiro. Alright... now to figure out where Yamato gate jumped them all to so they could find a place to settle down, hide, and rest for a bit...

* * *

Hikari would take some of her free time to talk to her parents again, informing them of the successful operation, though no more than that. She had been given emergency clearance by the Hunters to know all that top-secret garbage, mostly because they couldn't have made the operation work without her, but they were still civilian. All they were allowed to know was their son and his friends worked with the Hunters, and the operation was a success.

All things considered, they handled it pretty well. Masaharu had spoken to them after the initial conversation, and perhaps their similar situations allowed them to relate to him much better... they wanted the same things. First and foremost, they wanted the safety of their children, but they also wanted to win the war, and they understood there was no stopping those children now, so best to support them instead, in any way they could.

The news that Hikari was now like the rogues... they didn't seem altogether enthusiastic to hear that, but the fact that she was playing a support role, not fighting on the front lines, made it a bit easier to handle.

Hikari would eventually be led back to the secondary command room where she had watched them coordinate the operation before. Masaharu was busy talking to some other officer over the comm while Katsu stared, seemingly obsessing over the strategic map of the city. She would move up to take a place at his side, simply watching him for now, pondering what sort of thoughts must have been running through his head, as well as just the boy as a whole. What sort of experiences did he have to face in his life to become so utterly... hard? So dead, so... obsessed with war and nothing else.

Even as she pondered this, Masaharu soon ended his conversation and turned around, taking note of her there, though as usual Katsu was his main focus for now.

"Well, we're in the clear. Even the staunchest anti-rogues in command are happy with the results, so SDZ isn't going to be punished for undercutting their authority. I doubt word of the rogues' assistance will reach PR, but we should be able to negotiate out those family talks they wanted..."

"Doesn't matter. That's a minor note. We can bypass command to make that happen if we need to. What did they say about barrier fronts?"

Katsu was as dire as ever. In some ways, worse... despite everyone else in the room currently running off the high of their victory, he seemed even more tense than before. Hikari was silently amazed that he hadn't yet died of stress living like that...

"They're calling for immediate leave for a number of troops on several barrier fronts. They want to get our most exhausted crews rested up, and they're calling for extending the leave of several crews that were already on it. They want to take immediate advantage of this victory... they're already having the PR people play it up to the civilians."

Without responding directly to the man across the table, Katsu grabbed a nearby phone and hit a number of keys to dial up someone... Hikari could guess it was one of the superiors in the command division, and in a few seconds she was proven right.

"Katsu. Sir, I'm calling for an immediate special directive to belay the order for leave. Myotismon isn't-"

He froze in mid-sentence, his brow creasing severely, obviously annoyed. Whether it was from the words on the other side or the fact he was interrupted wasn't clear. Maybe both...

"Yes _sir_, I am _well_ aware. I oversaw the entire operation, I knew the numbers before you did. I also know what numbers are left, and Myotismon will _not_ leave this attack unanswered."

Another pause, and his gaze went from angry to borderline murderous. All eyes diverted from him then, save Hikari's. Even Masaharu looked away, though he seemed less afraid than the others and more... distraught. She could understand it... she'd seen that look in her parents' own eyes every time any word came about the rogues. They hated seeing their son fighting in the war, and Masaharu... he saw a child like this every day, a constant reminder of their hell and what his son was also facing.

"To _hell_ with command's opinions, _sir_. I'm issuing the directive."

With that he'd simply hang up and call to a woman at one of the nearby consoles, relaying his orders a second time, though everyone in the room obviously heard the conversation the first time. When it was done, he turned his eyes back to the map, once again calm, or as close as he ever got to it...

"They're going to override it..."

Masaharu muttered, eyes not meeting Katsu's as he spoke, nor did the boy's move up to meet his.

"I know. We'll just have to deal with it. Let's debrief with the rogues, then we can figure out where to shift our focus for the next phase."

Masaharu nodded and turned to Hikari. She knew this drill well enough already, despite having only done it once just before the operation started. Set up her digivice near the comm so they could connect an external party to the conversation if they needed to, as well as to record everything that was said. They had very little access to direct data from the digital world, so it was possible any one of the rogues might say something that could prove useful for their intel in the long term. Best to keep it all on file for later review...

"Taichi?"

Hikari opened, a familiar greeting that would likely become more so soon. She never knew what her brother was up to, so she had to always make sure he wasn't in the middle of a crisis and could talk before she started saying anything important.

"Here. We're all settled in. Found a safe place to hide, and all our digimon are just about passed out here. We're gonna get some food for everyone soon, but we have some time for the debriefing first. Mind if I connect to everyone else?"

"Go ahead."

A few seconds later and the lights on her device flickered several times, indicating each additional entry to the discussion, finally adding up to all seven. She would set her digivice down then, having learned before that it worked even when she didn't hold it, so long as she remained close enough.

"I did my final assessment on the numbers, and it looks like the casualties hit just over thirteen-hundred for the enemy. These numbers are colossally larger than our expectations, and given that they were roughly equal parts child and adult digimon, the damage to the enemy army was quite significant. Unfortunately, we're still left with the problem of Myostismon's army of perfects. From Taichi's close-up view, it looked to be closer to sixty than fifty, though his assault most likely took down one or two, so we're going to estimate approximately fifty-five remaining."

Koushiro worked through his data methodically, laying out the facts for the Hunters before turning the conversation over to Masaharu to do the same.

"As previously stated, zero casualties on our end. A few minor injuries, but nothing that will hamper any of our troops, so they can be redeployed immediately. No major losses in terms of equipment... the biggest problem is the loss of our trump card. The data burst weapon will be useless in future fights, so we've taken a step back in terms of power."

"How long will it take to build another one?"

Jou's voice this time, not one that Hikari knew especially well as he and Mimi lurked in the background for most of the fight. They weren't the tactical thinkers. Leave that to Koushiro and their duo of leaders. They tended to everyone after the fighting was done.

"It doesn't even matter. The attack itself will be useless, not just the weapon... the problem with that kind of attack is that it's unstable... erratic, easily filtered out, and once Myotismon figures out how it works, he'll be able to create a counter for it. I'd give it a week before his army is immune to future data-burst attacks... that's why we used it here. We had the technology for a long time, but we wanted to save it for an operation that was of major importance."

Masaharu sighed as he finished speaking. Bad news... always some of that somewhere in all this. It also presented problems for future operations that he didn't want to think about now. They just had their first major victory in who knew how long. He wanted at least a few hours to savor that.

"Where did you even get that weapon from?"

Koushiro, ever the techie, and ever curious. Of course, the more he knew the better he could help. The problem was, the answer wouldn't be as useful as he might have hoped.

"It was developed out of the barrier technology we set up on the sector borders. The basic force-field barriers take a lot of damage from enemy fire, so we developed a secondary barrier to layer over it to reduce the damage by writing random bits into the enemy attacks before they hit. It proved highly effective against attacks from children, allowing our men to prioritize adults and perfects as their targets."

"Clever... however, attacks can't auto-filter the data like digimon can, so it would be far more useful as a defensive tool in the long run. No refining the weapon would fix that... though I may be able to help with the barrier. Could I perhaps get access to the specs to see if I can improve on the basic design and increase its effectiveness against higher-level digimon?"

"I'll see what I can do, but no promises. I doubt command would trust you enough to authorize that yet."

"I understand. I'll assume the answer is no and focus on other priorities for now."

Masaharu nodded to himself before glancing to Katsu. Basic debriefing done, now on to other matters before addressing questions of the future. Katsu made a hand motion that Hikari couldn't make sense of, but Masaharu seemed to understand it well enough. Hikari silently wondered why Katsu wasn't talking directly to them and why he was going through a middle-man. Did Masaharu even know? Was it because of security and paranoia, or a personal disdain for the rogues? So many questions...

"Now that we've covered that, I have a question for Taichi... we heard about what happened, that suicide stunt before you just... disappeared. How did you do that?"

Hikari had wondered that, herself. She was eternally grateful for it, whatever the cause, but the question still lingered. She'd never seen or heard anything about that before, and even the other rogues were surprised...

"I didn't. When the enemies spotted us, we heard someone say something... pretty sure it was a digimon using some power we've never seen before. Turned me and MetalGreymon invisible. Couldn't see who did it, so I think he was invisible, too. He told us we had one shot and to make it count, that the invisibility would go away after our first attack, so we went to the back of the enemy army on the ground and just let loose."

"That's also how he managed to scout a better view of the number of enemy perfects. He had a few seconds to count them where I didn't."

Koushiro cut in with the final note, always careful to make sure all the important data was being covered. His part, at least, made sense, though Taichi's whole explanation... not so much. It implied many things that they had previously thought impossible.

"I was under the impression that all the digimon in our world, other than your partners, worked for Myotismon."

"We thought so, too, which makes this event all the more surprising. It's possible it's a spy working from within Myotismon's ranks, given how difficult it would be to sneak into the analogue world without getting caught."

The analogue world... that was the first time Hikari had heard that term, and from the look on his face, the same was likely true for Masaharu. However, it made a sort of sense. If the other world was the digital world, then theirs was the analogue. And for Katsu... well, he looked exactly the same as always. Focused, dire, and completely unshakable.

"Why? He could turn invisible... he wouldn't have to hide if they didn't know he was there. He could just cross worlds with Myotismon's other digimon."

Mimi's voice for once, and... an extremely intelligent remark, albeit a simple one. It seemed a little stupid that the rest of them didn't realize that immediately, but sometimes thinking about things too hard made one miss the obvious little things.

"Hmm... valid point. At this point, we can't say for certain, so let's just be glad that we have a mystery friend and not another enemy out to get us."

Masaharu noted, pausing to glance to Katsu again. Receiving a nod, he continued to the next logical stage of the discussion... the future. The most tricky part of all.

"Anyway, the Hunter command is determined to take this opportunity to give our boys on the front a break. I suggest you all do the same, since you took the brunt of the trouble from the fight. However, we also need to begin planning for the next step in the war. Our biggest threat is that army of perfect-level digimon. In addition to the direct threat, it also presents a strategic problem we haven't been able to resolve yet."

"You mean the question of why Myotismon hasn't simply swept through the city, demolishing your barriers and capturing everything."

Koushiro answered without a beat, having already run through these questions in his own mind and likely run into similar problems.

"Ultimately, I can see only two logical paths. If he's pursuing direct conquest or destruction, then he's scared of something... he doesn't want to risk a direct attack for fear of what might happen. However, if that's so, whatever he fears is clearly not any of us..."

Koushiro's voice trailed off and Hikari glanced aside to the far end of the table, at Katsu, a motion noticed by both him and Masaharu. Maybe _he_ was the thing Myotismon feared... seemed like everyone _else_ did, after all.

"Second option, he's after something else. Possibly there's something or someone in the city he's after and he doesn't want to risk destroying it, or having them flee... likely that he doesn't know where they are, or it's something in the possession of an enemy and he's trying to find or capture them. However, it could also be that Odaiba itself isn't even his priority, and his main goal is to draw us into a trap like the one we nearly fell into in the last battle... or maybe this city is simply a place to refine his troops and tactics against human weapons so he can branch out and begin assaulting other locations in the world with impunity."

"So we really have no way of knowing. Either his goal is conquest and he's scared of something we don't know, or he's not, and his _goals_ are something we don't know. Either way, we're in the dark."

Masaharu concluded, sighing heavily. Every problem solved was a new problem discovered. Seems like they never caught a break.

"Completely. However, we've learned about his core army and now we know his potential, so we can focus on countering it. _Our_ next step will be locating the remaining crests so that we can confront Myotismon at full power. Then we can devise some plan of attack..."

Koushiro's voice trailed off again as he pondered, though Hikari would quickly cut in personally. Normally she stayed out of these conversations, but this talk about crests obviously involved the rogues, so it also involved her. She wasn't going to miss an opportunity to main another means of helping her brother and his friends.

"What are the crests?"

Silence from the other end for a moment before Taichi finally responded. He wasn't eager to answer since it might eventually lead to Hikari fighting directly, but... this was war. They all had to play their part.

"The crests are what give us the power to digivolve our digimon past the adult stage. We only have three right now... Courage, Friendship, and Knowledge. Mine, Yamato's, and Koushiro's."

The names certainly seemed suitable given their personalities... so then, only three found. So the question was, did that leave three to go... or four?

"Three... that's only half. That's an enormous potential increase in power if you can find the others."

Masaharu quickly turned Hikari's thoughts away from her own situation for the moment. Later... she didn't even have a digimon partner yet. Perhaps once she had one she could move on to finding her own crest. One step at a time...

"Precisely. If we can find the other three, we can increase our power enough to make ourselves a serious threat to Myotismon, perhaps even forcing him to think about his defense for once. We haven't been able to find them yet because we've been focusing almost exclusively on the war, and we've also had trouble in this world from Myotismon's troops trying to hunt us down. Now, it seems we need to change priorities."

Masaharu glanced to Katsu once more, his expression slightly more dire as Koushiro mentioned turning attention away from the war. Hikari wasn't sure exactly the meaning of their silent exchange, but the meaning would become clear as he opened his mouth to speak once more. This time his tone was as calm as ever, but it was clear enough by his eyes that he was masking his true concern.

"Well, now would certainly be the perfect time, while Myotismon is reeling. You kids do what you need to do. We'll bunker down and hold the fort on this end, until you're able to arm up better for the fight."

Of course, if Katsu's previous suspicions about the war were correct, Myotismon wouldn't be 'reeling' like everyone thought he was. But if they said anything about that, there was no way Taichi and the others would agree to leave them to defend on their own. As always... war. They did what they had to do, one way or another.

"Got it. And if you can, next time we get talking like this..."

Taichi was quickly interrupted by Masaharu again who already knew what he was thinking. Perhaps the only exclusively good part of this entire mess, the only silver lining that didn't have a dark cloud to go with it...

"Don't worry. I'll get your parents here as soon as possible. Just need a little while to get through the red tape and clear them."

"Thanks... for everything. Talk to you soon, Hikari."

Taichi concluded and Hikari nearly replied before she was interrupted by Yamato with a bit of his own tactical advise.

"We'll call next time we manage to stop somewhere to hide. We should probably keep quiet until then. Myotismon still has scouts in this world, looking for us. Random calls might be heard if we're not careful."

Hikari nodded to herself. So... silence again. She wouldn't be able to talk to her brother all the time as she might have hoped, but still... this was enough. For now, she would endure this, hoping for the day she could join them all in the fight, personally...

"Alright. I'll be waiting for your call, then... love you, brother. Stay safe."

"You too, Hikari."

And with that the call simply ended, even as Hikari lingered, wishing she had something more to say. Finally, after staring down at her now-silent digivice for several seconds she would pick it up and pocket it, turning her attention to Masaharu and Katsu. The former seemed lost in thought, while the latter... unfazed, as always.

"So... while I'm waiting for a phone call and red tape, what do I do now?"

Masaharu glanced up to her before turning weary eyes to Katsu. He knew what was coming, and though it may have seemed minor in light of what had just happened, for him it hit closer to home than anyone could know.

"Now you meet the rest of Special Division Zero, and start training."

Hikari knew that name, though little more than that. SDZ; it was the division that Masaharu and Katsu were part of, and that she had been aiding to make this operation happen. Without further explanation, Katsu gestured to Masaharu before turning away, leaving the older man to take care of the rest of the official business, as always.

"What exactly _is_ Special Division Zero?"

Masaharu froze before slowly turning back to face her. In his eyes then, she saw something unexpected. Guilt. Either guilt for what he had done, or for what he was powerless to do.

"Katsu's team... the Digimon Hunters' child army."


	4. Ghosts

A/N: Okay, so apparently I put in the Author's Notes as A/U in chapter 2 and N/A in chapter three. Oops? ^_^;

Ultimate Black Ace: Normally I would absolutely dread saying anything that might remotely come close to spoilers, so I won't answer any of your questions directly... but regarding the last one, let me just say this: If you _really_ want an answer, do an online search for 'digimon magical game.' That should be all you need.

Chapter 4: Ghosts

**Houses are not haunted. _We_ are haunted, and regardless of the architecture with which we surround ourselves, our ghosts stay with us until we ourselves are ghosts.**

The process of getting Hikari admitted into Special Division Zero was more complex than she originally expected. Normally it was a simple matter of running someone through the proper security checks to make sure they were no danger and then they were in, but they made a special exception for Hikari because, danger or not, they had no assurances that she would not become so in the future.

While Hikari waited for Masaharu to take care of that red tape, she was moved to another department where she couldn't see or hear anything important. She was intent on not simply being idle, however, so Masaharu pulled a few strings and had her moved somewhere she could continue to help... of all places, that ended up being the PR department.

She would learn why soon enough, however, as her direct 'superior' was a woman by the name of Natsuko Ishida – Masaharu's wife and the mother of Yamato. Hikari was assigned to helping her file reports and send out letters to civilians regarding emergency orders from the Hunters. With so many people relocating after the fall of residential sector eight, they had to make a lot of room for them elsewhere.

They stayed far from the entire media scene that orbited the recent victory in that sector, which was fine with Hikari. That was all publicity, anyway. They made it sound like the war had suddenly turned around and they were on a straight road to victory... she wouldn't have been able to stomach that for more than a few hours.

Natsuko said very little about herself and her family, though that was clearly for the sake of appearance. The only times she ever spoke candidly were when they were together outside of the workspace, which was rarely. Had to keep up appearances for the sake of the people upstairs, after all... make them happy so Hikari could get her clearance and then finally get to actually doing what she wanted.

* * *

"The entire conversation is going to be recorded for security... but the recording will be kept in SDZ records, so the only one who will really have open access to it other than me is Katsu."

"I'm surprised they'd put this sort of thing in... _Katsu's_ control."

Natsuko muttered, looking a somewhat unsettled, and perhaps a bit fidgety as well, but that made sense considering she was about to have her first conversation with her son in three years... she also seemed unnerved to talk about Katsu, but then... wasn't everyone?

"That's the kind of person he is... the only one more dedicated to the Hunter cause than its own leaders."

Masaharu commented idly and Natsuko nodded. Reaching over, he squeezed her hand gently before looking to Hikari. He had done away with his Hunter uniform for now, preferring a set of normal civilian clothes for this. Maybe it was so he could feel more normal... or maybe he just wanted everyone to know from how he was dressed that he wasn't on duty and they needed to shove off. He could deal with their problems some other time...

Hikari would glance quickly between the two of them to make sure they would both ready before nodding. Alright... first rogue in line, Yamato. It took her a few extra seconds to contact him, but that was just because her instinct was to call her brother first.

"Yamato."

"Hey, Hikari. Are... are my parents..."

"We're here, Yamato. Both of us..."

Masaharu glanced over to Natsuko, who was silently holding a hand to her lips, as if she was afraid to speak. Fortunately, Yamato broke the silence first, making it a tiny bit easier.

"...hey, mom. It's... been a while."

She took a shaky breath, eyes squeezing shut to block the tears. Pain, joy... she didn't know what she was feeling. Only that it was overwhelming.

"Hey... Yamato. Yeah, it has. I..."

Natsuko took a deep breath, trying to choke back her tears as Masaharu grabbed and squeezed her hand once more. Everything that had happened... there were no words for it all. Simply talking wasn't enough to express everything that needed to be known, but she had to say something... her heart felt ready to burst if she didn't.

"I'm sorry. I'm _so_ sorry, Yamato, for everything. I-"

"Mom... mom, stop, you don't have to apologize."

"Yes! Yes, I do! We _both_ do! We... we didn't think... we didn't know what was really important until this stupid war started, and then..."

Finally she couldn't hold back the tears any longer, and once they started it was like a river and she could do nothing to stop it. She turned, burying her face in the shoulder of her husband, who in turn hugged her tightly, taking a deep breath to steady himself so he didn't break down as she was.

"Yamato, your mother and I... we re-married. Shortly after the war started, and... after we learned what had happened..."

Hikari's eyes turned to the digivice as she heard Yamato suddenly choke up on the other end. An odd feeling came over her then, reminiscent of the first moment she had met Katsu. Pain, anguish... that dark, cold, death that she felt when she saw his eyes. It was the agony of loss that so many people knew, but embodied so much more intensely in his person. This family... they knew that agony. Not just fear, like Hikari herself or her parents, but true loss.

"You... you don't know what happened..."

"Yes, we do... we heard... we know perfectly well-"

Masaharu was cut off suddenly by Yamato. Ever the ice-man, now he was showing a completely different side.

"No, you _don't!_ You... you don't know what we _did!_ It was... it was our fault... _we_ killed Takeru! I was supposed to _protect_ him, and he died because of _ME!_"

Hikari had to cover her own mouth to choke back the tears that started to form. What was this...? Her hands were shaking, her heart was pounding in her chest... the pain, the guilt, and anger. It poured into her like a torrential flood, and in that moment Hikari could think only of Katsu... as if his eyes were there on her, boring into her soul. That ice, that emptiness... like the eyes of a dead man, for she could not imagine any living person surviving the pain that she was enduring in that moment.

"He... he fought. He fought a fight we felt couldn't be won. He died to save us... to save _everyone_, and he needed us... he needed us and we did _nothing!_ We ran away! We _let_ him die!"

Hikari felt herself double over from the pain spiking in her chest. Her heart felt like it was ready to literally burst in her chest and she struggled to even draw a breath. By now Masaharu and Natsuko noticed something was wrong, though between her own tears and listening to Yamato, she struggled to even figure out what to do. Masaharu, fortunately, was able to respond, if only by kicking his brain into panic mode.

Kicking his chair over, he rushed to the girl's side. The thump from the falling chair was enough to catch the attention of Yamato on the other end of the call to stop him from speaking.

"Hikari! Hikari, what's wrong?"

"What... Hikari, what... dad, what's happening?"

She was drowning. She couldn't breathe, she couldn't feel... she could barely even think. The darkness was enveloping her and her will was quickly fading as it continued to rise.

"Hikari! Breathe! Hikari, listen to me! You have to focus! _Breathe!_"

"Dad! Mom! What's happening _over there?! What's __**wrong with Hi... ri...**_"

The voices faded. The sights, the sounds... all drowning in the darkness, falling into nothing, along with her. She felt only a hard press against her stomach from something taking hold of her as her body fell, but soon even that feeling was drowned in the shadows...

Beep, beep, beep...

Slowly, Hikari's sense of the world began to return. Darkness... the dark was gone, though within her own mind the shadows were still creeping as her body struggled to awaken itself from that death-slumber. It would be several minutes before she would at last open her eyes and shift them about, trying to get a sense of where she was.

Hospital bed... she was breathing... that was good. Her body... she was still in her own clothes. No hospital garb. She must not have been here long, then. What...

She heard a scream, though not one of fear or anything of the sort. The next thing she knew someone was grabbing her and pulling her into a tight embrace. Words followed, but her mind was still a haze and couldn't make sense of them yet. Though... wait a second, she knew that voice...

"Hey mom..."

Or, at least that's what Hikari assumed she said. Even her own words were a haze at that point. It would be a minute before her mother would calm down, but that was fine... not like she could really respond yet anyway.

Everything that followed lingered in that same haze. Though she would be able to make sense of what people were saying and doing, it all seemed to play out before her like a movie. The conversation with Yamato... panic attack... physically fine, in need of rest... she responded to each of these things as she was expected to, but afterward she wouldn't be able to recall exactly what she had said. Didn't really matter, anyway...

Afterward, she would be taken to some room to rest and shortly thereafter Masaharu would show up with Natsuko as well... the latter only there for support. The Hunters had taken her digivice when she passed out, but Katsu had fortunately recovered it and gotten it to Masaharu, who in turn brought it back to her once she awoke.

He said a few things that she didn't perfectly recall, though she understood the general gist of them. Their theories... her digivice as an emotional link, somebody else's emotions being channeled... they didn't understand it all perfectly, of course... in truth, they barely understood any of it, but they had a theory, at least.

It was obvious enough that Masaharu and Natsuko both wanted to contact Yamato immediately, though they also feared for Hikari's safety, so they didn't ask. In her state of mind, however, she didn't much care. A quick push of a button was all it took, and they couldn't stop her in time before she called again.

"Yamato..."

A shout could be heard from the background, followed by a quick struggle. She knew _that_ voice, too...

"HIKARI! Hikari, what happened! I heard y-"

"Get... offa me! You got your own digivice, idiot!"

"Yamato, is everyone on that end okay?"

Hikari ignored the spectacle between Taichi and Yamato. With the haze still there, she didn't really feel much emotionally... just the curiosity surrounding what had happened.

"Eeeeeyah! Uh... yeah, we're all okay. What about you? What happened?"

"Passed out... doctors said I had a panic attack. The Hunters think it had something to do with the digivice... something about channeling emotions through it. Know anything about that?"

"Channeling... what? I don't- wait... just a second. Adding Koushiro..."

Hikari waited, her mind drifting through the various questions that came to her. That darkness... that wasn't just a panic attack. That was something else... more than just emotion, it felt... palpable. It felt almost physical, like it was literally enveloping her... just a trick of her mind? Maybe...

"Hikari, what _exactly_ did they say about what happened?"

"I don't know... doesn't matter, it's just a theory. You know more than them, anyway. They think I felt someone else's emotions through the digivice and it caused a panic attack. Is that even possible?"

"I... I don't know. I don't _think_ so. The digivices _are_ linked to our emotions, but... they connect us to our digimon, not each other."

"I don't have a digimon."

"No... but Yamato does. Even if that sort of thing _were_ possible, there's no one for you to link to..."

"Unless you count ghosts."

"Ghosts? Wait... what are you-"

"Yamato, your parents are here... did you want to finish your conversation with them?"

Blatantly obvious attempt to shift the attention away from what she was saying before, yes... and she'd probably care once her head was clear, but for now she... didn't. Let them think what they wanted. Yamato could probably guess anyway, so he could fill them in on whatever they needed to know later.

"Umm... no. No, that's fine... we can talk later. I... don't think this is a good time."

"Alright... I'm going to rest. Call when you're able to talk again."

And with that, the conversation abruptly ended as Hikari simply pushed the button to cut it off and laid back down on the bed. Whatever Masaharu and Natsuko did, she didn't know. She was tired... let them take care of themselves. She needed sleep.

* * *

When Hikari finally awoke for real, and when that black fog that filled her mind had subsided, she was greeted by a rather changed world. Apparently she had slept through quite an event, and it wouldn't take long for her to piece together exactly what it involved.

Myotismon. Katsu was right. The full army of perfects had counterattacked, striking out against the barriers surrounding residential sector eight. They didn't swarm into other sectors or try to take anything over, they just attacked. Just... killed. The western barrier was the first to fall under their assault, and even as the technicians rushed to start repairing the damage they started laying into the south barrier.

Over eighty people were dead, and at least twice that number were injured. The east barrier suffered the least of the losses, for by the time the southern barrier was knocked down they realized what was going to come next. The troops all evacuated the site before the perfects arrived, save for a few that stayed for a suicide defense after rigging up several of their weapons to overload. To their credit, they managed to take down one or two of the enemies before they were wiped out.

The city was in a panic. Losing ground to Myotismon was nothing new... the way his army slowly worked across the city, it seemed inevitable, but for three barriers to fall in a period of only a few hours, and so soon after a sector had been lost...

Hikari learned from Masaharu that her clearance had been completely revoked by Hunter command... after which he promptly led her to the SDZ command room anyway. The atmosphere there wasn't much better than the rest of the city, save for one person.

Katsu's personality helped to stymy any panic that the others in the room might have expressed. They didn't feel much better, but they were far more controlled than they would have been otherwise. And Katsu himself... he was brooding over the city map, as always. Hikari already knew that he had issued all his orders in response to the problem. He had expected this, after all. He was probably just waiting before for the news to come so he could put his counter-plan into effect.

"Hikari."

Katsu motioned for her to move to his side at the map. That was new... she wasn't used to being directly addressed by him unless it was for an operation, and even then it was usually Masaharu that did the talking for him half the time. Following his lead, she would come up to the map and look it over briefly. Nothing new... she already knew everything that was being shown to her. Whatever Katsu was planning, he hadn't marked anything on the map to show it. All his plans stayed exclusively within his own head.

"You're going to be cleared for SDZ tomorrow. I want you to begin immediately studying all Hunter procedure and protocol. You're taking over as my second-in-command."

His- wait, WHAT? Where did _this_ come from?

"Um... Hunter command revoked all my clearance. I won't be doing anything official with SDZ or _any_ of the Hunters for a while...

"That decision is going to be overturned tomorrow. My order stands."

Hikari simply blinked. Whatever Katsu was expecting, he was absolutely certain it was going to come to pass. Clearly it wasn't something widely known, or else he wouldn't have been speaking in a tone that nobody else could hear. She didn't even think to question it after hearing his previous prediction... he'd been spot-on about Myotismon's reaction, so she just assumed the same would be true with the Hunter command.

"What about Masaharu? Isn't _he_ your second-in-command?"

"He's going to receive an emergency transfer, as well as a promotion... that's why I'm bringing you in. I need someone reliable to replace him."

She nodded slowly. Reliable... strange that he'd say that about her. He'd only known her for... what, a few days? Then again, who knew what kind of other records he might have on her... he was the biggest mystery in the whole Hunter organization, and part of her wondered if she'd ever be able to truly figure him out, even if she had a lifetime to do it.

And with that, their conversation abruptly ended and Katsu called for Masaharu to come and handle some other official matter. Hikari was dismissed until the next call from the rogues, which would be only a few hours. It seemed like an awfully short amount of time between calls, but maybe she simply slept longer than she realized. She really needed to pay more attention to the time around here...

"Hikari, you awake?"

"Yeah, I'm... here. I'm fine, Taichi. Sorry for worrying you."

"Don't worry about it... I'm just glad you're okay. I... uhm... well, we all heard about the attack... Koushiro has access to all the media reports. It sounds like chaos over there."

"Sort of... things aren't so bad with the Hunters. Katsu's keeping them all calm."

"What? Who's Katsu?"

Ah... CRAP! They didn't know his name... and chances were they weren't supposed to, either. Huge mistake there, Hikari... nothing to do about it now, though. Just keep it low-key and don't let Taichi get too suspicious of who he is.

"I think he's one of the Hunter commanders... Masaharu's superior. He's the calmest person in this whole place. His division has kept pretty calm thanks to him being around."

He was also the one who got Hikari her digivice... the one who planned the DA assault... oh yeah, and he was also a child, same age as her. But any one of those things would have set off red lights in Taichi's head, so she made a point to say absolutely nothing about any of that.

"Ah... you never mention him before."

"Well, I see Yamato's mom and dad more. Besides, Hunter security... you know. I figured I wasn't supposed to talk about anything that wasn't 'authorized.'"

"Yeah, I know what you mean. Um... Koushiro told me our parents probably wouldn't be cleared to talk to us any time soon, with all the chaos that's happening, but Yamato's parents are with the Hunters, so..."

"I'll let them know. Talk to you in a little while, big brother."

Cutting off the conversation, Hikari paused a moment, pondering her current circumstances... in so short a time she had gone from just living a normal life to being a messenger girl between the Hunters and the rogues... now conversations like that with her brother felt commonplace and she felt more at home here in the base than she would if she could return to her family's apartment.

Is this what war did to people? Forced them to become something new without them even realizing they were changing? Or was she a special exception? Maybe she was taking to this better than most people because it was what she always wanted... a chance to help, a chance to fight...

Dismissing those thoughts, she quickly stood from her bed and headed out the door to find and report to Masaharu.

Before long she was back with Yamato's parents, playing messenger girl between them and their son while the Hunters recorded the whole thing. They didn't speak of Takeru or any of the events surrounding him... instead they just talked about life. Yamato mentioned things about his friends... though for the most part they were things Hikari already knew.

Taichi's recklessness, Koushiro's brilliance... apparently Jou had managed to teach himself some basic medicine in his spare time during the past three years thanks to Koushiro stealing electronic copies of medical school books from the human world. He served as the group doctor when one of them did something stupid and got themselves injured... which was usually Taichi. Mimi was his parallel on the emotional side, keeping them all sane and helping them to make it through the worst of times... the only one he said very little about was Sora... all she could tell what that the girl helped keep them all working together, but very little detail was offered as to how.

He would end with the introduction of his partner, Gabumon. In all their time, their digmon partners hadn't really been heard much by the people on the Hunters' side. Maybe that was because the children knew of their rampant fear and... frankly, their racism against digimon. But he was Yamato's friend... and he kept the boy alive, so his parents were happy to meet him.

Hikari would return to her room somewhat disappointed by the lack of anything useful being said by Yamato... however, the rogues had all settled down to rest for the night... why not make a personal call?

"Taichi, can you talk?"

A pause, then Taichi came on the line. There was some slight noise in the background, but it soon faded. She assumed he was moving away from the others to keep the conversation private. Good... that was probably going to be needed anyway.

"Yeah, sis. What's up?"

Hikari would just lie on the bed, staring up at the blank ceiling for a few seconds. Good question... why was she calling? Only one possible question came to mind, though now she wondered if she should ask it. With the way Yamato reacted... would Taichi respond any better?

"Hikari? You there?"

"Who... is Takeru?"

There was a long silence, followed by someone speaking that she didn't recognize, though she had a guess as to who it might be after the conversation with Yamato.

"Taichi... tell her. She should know."

"Nice to meet you, Taichi-mon."

Hikari muttered into her digivice, grinning to herself as she heard the digimon on the other end laugh a bit.

"It's Agumon. Nice to meet you, Taichi-sister."

Hikari snickered for a moment, but then Taichi was back on the line and the atmosphere was distinctly sober once again...

"Where did you hear about him?"

"Yamato. He was talking to his parents and mentioned Takeru. He said... he said you all killed him."

Silence. She could only imagine how Taichi's face must have looked then. Was he shocked that Yamato would claim that? Or did he, perhaps, share the sentiment?

"Takeru was... Yamato's brother. He..."

Taichi paused and cleared his throat. Alright... story time. A lot of things to say, so he took a moment to ready himself for a long explanation.

"Takeru was one of us. He was with us that day at summer camp when it snowed... that was the day we were first transported to the digital world."

"I remember that... I would've been there with you, but I got sick."

"Yeah, you did... I guess we know why now. Anyway... we got our digimon, our digivices... a lot of stuff happened, we learned a lot about our digimon and our connection with them. They called us the digidestined, humans with the power to help digimon evolve. We all learned how to do it, except Takeru. His partner, Patamon... he was the only one that couldn't digivolve for some reason.

The place where we were... it was called File Island. Around the island were a bunch of different digimon that had these... black gears stuck in them. The gears controlled them, made them crazy, evil... we finally found out why. There was a digimon on the island called Devimon that was creating the gears. The first time we ran into him he broke the island into pieces and scattered us all to different parts of it. Eventually, we got back together, we fought him, and... we lost."

There was a pause and the sound of heavy breathing from the other end. Even after three years, the memory was still raw and painful to recall. Hikari briefly regretted asking about him, but it was too late to take it back now...

"Did... Takeru die in that fight?"

"No... no, he ran away. We all did. We lost, we ran, we hid... and we just about gave up. We didn't even stand a _chance_ against Devimon. Seeing our digimon go down... it was like he was swatting flies. But Takeru... he refused to quit. He wouldn't accept defeat. He insisted we go back and try again. He said Patamon could digivolve and we could all fight together, but... the way we all went down, we didn't believe it would make a difference. We didn't care. Takeru almost went to fight alone before we stopped him, and..."

Taichi choked on his next words. The guilt again... Hikari didn't feel the darkness that she felt it the first time, but she could hear it... the same as Yamato. The same as _all_ of them, most likely...

"We lied. We told him we would go back and fight. We told him... we told him whatever we had to to get him to stop. We knew we weren't going back to fight again, but we said it anyway... said we needed time to rest, come up with a plan... just something to justify why we weren't actually _doing_ anything. And he believed us. Eventually... we convinced him to go out with Koushiro and scout Infinity Mountain – that was the place where Devimon had his base. They were supposed to check out what Devimon was up to, figure out what he was planning... the truth was, we just wanted to get him away for a little while so the rest of us could figure out what to do about him, how to convince him not to fight..."

Hikari closed her eyes, picturing the scene in her head. She already knew how this was going to play out... she could see it clearly in her mind's eye, the thing that the rogues missed that made everything go wrong...

"What was Devimon planning?"

Taichi sighed. That was the heart of it... the moment that changed everything, not just for them, but for the entire world.

"The rift... the one that brought the digimon into the human world... Devimon created it. He was working on opening it when they went to spy on him, Koushiro figured out what was happening, he came back to warn us... and Takeru went to fight him... alone. He expected us to join him... to give him backup, but by the time we realized it..."

Taichi's voice trailed off and Hikari closed the scene in her mind. Too late to help... too late to fix their mistake. So that was it... their betrayal. Still, that left so many questions yet unanswered... in fact, in some ways she found herself with more questions than before.

"What happened to Devimon?"

Taichi cleared his throat, trying to keep himself in control enough to keep speaking.

"Angemon happened. Patamon digivolved, they fought, and Angemon... won. If you can call it that. We only saw the end of it... the explosion and the aftermath. Angemon, Devimon, Takeru... they were all gone. The whole fight tore the rift wide open, let the digimon into our world, and started the war... and we spent the next year figuring out how to close it. By then Etemon, and then Myotismon, learned how to open their own rifts and it was too late to stop the invasion."

Silence hung between them for a long time after that. Taichi was barely holding himself together recalling those events, and Hikari... her mind was so preoccupied pondering a myriad of questions that she didn't know what to say. For a while they just let the silence linger, waiting until one of them thought of something worth saying. It wasn't awkward... they'd had those moments when they were younger. Just sitting and thinking about nothing for a while...

"What happened to Takeru's digivice?"

Hikari muttered, glancing to her own. The seventh... was this it? Had the digivice of the lost child somehow found itself into her hands? How ironic that would be... once in the hands of Yamato's younger brother, then in the hands of Taichi's younger sister...

"I don't know... we never found it. Koushiro thought it might have gotten pulled through the rift, into our world. We never found it, though. But he did mention it recently... said maybe that's the one you have now."

Hikari stared at the device in her hands, simply thinking... wondering... it _would_ make sense, and yet...

And _yet_.

When she first obtained her digivice she knew instinctively how to contact her brother through it. She understood it, though she had no idea how... and looking at it now, seeing her own faint reflection on that tiny screen... she knew it wasn't so. This digivice... it was _hers_. There were no ifs, ands, or buts about it. As Katsu said, semi-living, like the digimon... it had been waiting for her... waiting for a long time.

"I don't think it is."

"Why not?"

"I dunno. Just... a feeling I have."

And besides that, there was one other outstanding question left unanswered... and which Taichi and the other rogues almost definitely _couldn't_ answer. Taichi himself had asked who Katsu was, so he obviously didn't know. Which _also_ meant he wouldn't know how Katsu knew what the device was called. The Hunters didn't know anything about the _digidestined_, they knew about the rogues. They didn't know the names of any of the digimon... yet Katsu knew the name of the rogues' tool, the digivice.

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For telling me. Can you... can you let your friends know? I... I don't want them to talk about it if it hurts, but... if there's something about it I need to know, like if we find out this really _was_ Takeru's digivice... I want them to know that I already know about him."

"Sure... I was gonna tell them anyway. I don't keep secrets from my friends anymore."

With that, the conversation would wind down to a close, with them both saying their usual farewells before the screen turned dark. Hikari would continue to lie there for a long time... a few minutes, a few hours... it didn't matter. She let herself lose track of time. The Hunters would call her when she was needed again anyway.

Finally she would lift up her digivice again, staring at that tiny screen and wondering... there was one way to figure out for certain if Koushiro's theory was wrong. Pushing the button, she made another call. This time... to the seventh child.

"...Takeru? Takeru Ishida?"

The call held... there was no static, and the screen on the digivice showed that she was indeed connected to... something. She listened carefully, but she could barely hear anything. Just the faint sounds of something moving in the background. Those were followed by a light thump, a faint click, and then a few seconds later the signal was cut off.

So... she was right. This wasn't his digivice. And what's more, his own digivice was active and someone had possession of it, else the call couldn't have been cut off from the other end.

So then... who? Myotismon? Doubtful... wouldn't he just destroy the digivice if he got his hands on it? The same with any others like the digimon Taichi mentioned from the first invasion... Etemon. Could be a human, but why wouldn't they say anything? Maybe to maintain secrecy... but the Hunters were the only group she knew that would be that paranoid, and if they had a functional digivice, why would they have needed her to activate _this_ one?

Too many questions... no ready answers. Sighing, she rolled over and prepared to sleep, even though she wasn't really tired. She'd face those questions later, once she had some sort of clue to go by. For now... they were still at war, and that took first priority.


	5. Power Plays

A/N: Starting this chapter, I changed the listed genre from adventure to drama since it seemed more accurate. I was originally going to have more action scenes overall, but as I write I find I'm more comfortable with a slightly more dramatic and less adventurous style, and generally I feel as if the quality is better as well. (Let's just say I wasn't very pleased with the first half of chapter 3...)

That isn't to say that there won't be action scenes, of course. They're simply going to be at a reduced frequency from what I originally planned, and possibly written slightly differently as well. Honestly, for those of you who are already reviewing, I'd like your opinions on the matter. If the first half of chapter 3 was one of your favorite parts, then by all means let me know and I'll go back to my original plan. I'm just trying to play to my strengths and not get bogged down by trying to hold to strictly to my original plan.

(Also, I just now noticed that the section breaks I put in when originally writing the story didn't carry over to the site, so I'm now fixing and updating every chapter so they read better)

Chapter 5: Power Plays

**A wise man gets more use from his enemies than a fool from his friends.**

When Hikari awoke she would find the atmosphere of the Hunter base once again shifted dramatically. The panic was gone, and the air was filled with a new sense of unease. Like everyone was back to learning their jobs for the first time and there was nobody to teach them. It wasn't until she saw Masaharu again that she'd start to suspect why. His uniform had changed... now it had all the standard markings of a Hunter officer... and quite high markings at that. Just what had happened?

"Hikari, you've been cleared to join SDZ. Katsu wants you to report to him immediately."

Hikari stared at the man a moment, watching the way he held himself as if he'd been doing these new duties all his life... but there was no deceiving her after having watched him the past few days. Promotion or not, his mentality hadn't changed... he was still taking orders, and she suspected she knew who was giving them.

"What happened to _you_?"

Masaharu sighed, shaking his head lightly. _There_ was the tired man she recognized, just hiding behind the mask of rank and power.

"Promotion. The media backlash forced Hunter command to make a forced executive decision, and I was given a command role with them."

Seemed simple enough... promote the man or face potential riots. The problem was connecting A and B. Why would _Masaharu_ be the one promoted?

Hikari opened her mouth to ask, but he promptly cut her off, anticipating her question before it could be spoken.

"Go see Katsu. He'll explain. I don't have time to go over everything."

Hikari would nod lightly and watch the man as he promptly turned and headed away, to be quickly intercepted by several lower-ranking officers with various questions or reports. Alright, Katsu, what the hell are you up to?

She knew where to find him, brooding over that city map. However, when she arrived she would find the command room was locked off. The men at the door said they were in the process of refurbishing it... somebody called for an upgrade of most of the systems in there. Katsu wasted no time, apparently... in one morning he managed to reorganize the command chain _and_ get himself an equipment upgrade in the process.

She would eventually be the main control room used by Hunter command, which he had already procured half of for his exclusive use. As for everyone else in that area... if they wanted something, they were now doing it under his command. When she approached him, she was unsurprised to find his mood unchanged. All this, and he was still as dire as ever... figured.

"Okay, fess up. Masaharu said you were going to explain, so do it. What just happened?"

Everyone else in the room was shocked that she could simply walk up to the boy and make such a candid demand, but when his eyes met hers she didn't see anger... if anything, he seemed pleased by her boldness. Note to self: Keep doing that in the future...

"You know about Myotismon's counter attack, so I'll start there. The media and all the people were panicking about how hopeless everything was when somebody within the Hunter command chain let it leak that a special directive had been issued to belay the leave and prep everyone on the barrier fronts for a counter-attack. When the media report came out, everyone went berserk. There was a call to sack all of Hunter command and bring in new commanders from the Japanese standard army. I made a recommendation to help them resolve the problem."

"A problem you _created_."

Hikari muttered, though the officers immediately around her heard anyway. Still, nobody said anything... not like they didn't already know what had happened. But without proof they couldn't do anything. Heck, for all she knew they couldn't do anything even _with_ proof. Every day this boy showed himself to be dangerous in a whole new way...

"They sacked one of the lower ranking commanders, demoted another into his position, then filled the empty slot with a newly promoted officer taken from the division that issues the special directive."

He simply ignored her accusations... it didn't matter if she was right or not, anyway. Nothing _she_ could do about it, either.

"Masaharu."

"Commander Ishida now. He was the official head of SDZ before, since they didn't want to risk anybody knowing a child was running things. So he was the one promoted into the new command role."

"So now you have a puppet in Hunter command..."

Katsu turned back to the command map, which was quite a bit nicer than his previous one. Fully electronic screen that could access data about any part of the city whenever he wanted. This must be one of the upgrades he was getting to the SDZ room.

"He's not a puppet. He's a competent officer. He just isn't a talented battle commander, so he needs an adviser."

Uh-huh... Katsu Fang, adviser to Commander Ishida... everybody had to know who was really in charge there. But he really _was_ a brilliant military commander, wasn't he? They couldn't throw out Katsu, or else they'd lose the war just that much faster.

"Alright... so what now, mister _adviser_?"

"Now you get fitted for your uniform, then come back here. You start your new duties immediately. I have someone from the division already waiting to teach you everything you need to know."

"I don't want to wear a uniform."

Not on a daily basis, certainly. Granted, she could get used to it if she had to... but she wasn't going to. She was still a child. Having a uniform wasn't going to make her more of an adult, or more respected by the other Hunters, so she didn't need it. And since Katsu seemed to prefer it when she had an attitude... well then, she was going to keep on with it.

"I don't care. It's Hunter policy."

"_You're_ not wearing a uniform."

Katsu turned to meet her eyes, his gaze stern and harsh, clearly an intimidation tactic. With anybody else it might have worked... but she was digidestined. He needed her, whether or not he would admit it.

"You're not me."

"No, I'm _me_."

She took a step forward, closing the distance between their faces, throwing as much attitude as she could muster at him.

"Rogue _seven_. Deal with it."

The Hunters around them were all silent. Nobody... _nobody_ got in Katsu's face like she was. Not even Masaharu. He questioned orders, he made official complaints, but he always... knew his place, so to speak. Katsu could have had the man fired, thrown out, arrested, or in some other way punished. The same was true with Hikari, technically... he didn't need her working in SDZ to get her to play messenger girl between the rogues and the Hunters. She could do that just as well from a cell.

"Ryo, get over here."

Hikari's eyes shifted away a moment to catch a glimpse of the boy that was approaching from one side. Brown hair, blue eyes... he wasn't dressed like a Hunter for the most part. All he had was a Hunter insignia slapped on his shoulder. The rest of his clothes looked like normal civilian attire.

Hikari took a step back, now outright ignoring Katsu in favor of Ryo. Giving him a once over, she noticed as she stepped down from the slightly elevated position next to the tactical map that he was a bit taller... probably a few years older than her. Maybe Taichi's age, she wasn't sure...

"_You're_ the one I'm supposed to train?"

Hikari raised an eyebrow. So _he_ was going to have an attitude too? For a moment she almost cursed her luck until she noticed him giving her a once over as well, apparently expecting her to look a bit different. Glancing down at herself... well, okay, she understood what he meant. Pink and yellow weren't exactly the sort of colors to inspire confidence in a leader or a second-in-command, even for a child.

"My family's apartment was in residential sector eight. I wasn't able to save a lot of luggage. I'll get a new outfit soon."

He nodded slowly, still apparently skeptical. She rolled her eyes, glancing back to Katsu, who was once more preoccupied with the map. Typical. So she was on her own, then. Looking back to Ryo, she gave him a quick glare.

"If you're gonna have an attitude, I'll find someone better to train me."

It was his turn to raise an eyebrow at her attitude then. Seems they were having a bit of a battle of the wills at the top of the SDZ command chain...

"There _is_ no one better than me."

"Prove it."

He watched her a few seconds longer. Alright... she wanted to prove she deserved the position, that she wasn't being given a handout by Katsu just because she had a digivice. He could handle that. He'd give her a chance, and it would be up to _her_ whether she succeeded or failed.

"Alright. Let's not waste any more time, then."

* * *

After so much excitement in so short a time, the lull that followed seemed downright boring... yet it was simultaneously welcome. Myotismon's armies had apparently gone inactive. With his massively dwindled numbers, his forces were taking much longer than usual to fully secure his most recent sector prize. Hunter intel also caught footage of them clearing the rubble of the fallen buildings and repairing damage in places where it could be done.

Myotismon was nothing if not thorough. Both the Hunters and the digidestined had to wonder why he was so meticulous in his work to capture and hold just this one city, but the fact that he was proved to me a major boon for them. With the raids temporarily stopped, it gave the digidestined time to search, the Hunters time to prepare, and Hikari time to train.

She was three years behind the rest of them in getting in on this war, and she wasted no time getting caught up. Every day, every night... if she wasn't working, she was studying. Every line and word of Hunter protocol, every combat procedure... she wasn't able to get the physical training of adult soldiers, but what she could would soon bring her up to the level of the digidestined.

Three weeks of eating, sleeping, and breathing nothing but war... in that time, Taichi would be able to make contact with his parents due to Hikari's association with the Hunters. Like Yamato's, it would be something of a tearful reunion, though by then Hikari would have long since shed all her tears. For her, talking to her brother was a daily occurrence, though she offered her parents emotional support nonetheless.

However, it left also Hikari with a peculiar question about the digidestined regarding the girl Sora. Like Yamato, Taichi had said suspiciously little about her. Part of her started to wonder if there was some unspoken issue within the group, but she'd keep her mouth shut for now. She could ask later, at a more appropriate time.

The meeting was an additional boon for Hikari, though, as it cemented her place in the Hunters. By the end, her parents had fully decided that they were not going to be leaving Odaiba... they were staying to support their son for the long haul, until they won the war, as was Hikari herself.

Three weeks spent completely absorbed in the life and training of an officer... before news finally came from the digidestined about the search for the Crests.

* * *

"Guys, you need to see this."

Koushiro had settled down on the ground with his laptop, having plugged into a network node for Myotismon's army. They came upon these occasionally; they were remnants of Etemon's dark network that had been re-purposed for use by Myotismon and his generals.

Having played around inside Etemon's network during the first invasion, Koushiro had found a way to mask his signature to spy on the enemy army. He wasn't able to access any of their databases, but he could follow troop movements and orders, giving them an edge on escaping Myotismon's army, or even ambushing their pursuers in those lucky cases where the circumstances favored such a move.

This time, however, he'd stumbled on something unexpected in the network. Another signal running around, tracking his own. At first he thought it was one of Myotismon's guys watching the network, but he soon identified the source... a rather unexpected one.

"Really, now, this is disgraceful. You leave little data crumbs like this in your wake, and somehow no one has managed to catch on to your trail yet. Amateurs, all of them... they don't deserve to be operating in my network."

As the digidestined crowded around and caught sight of the figure on the screen, Taichi and Yamato narrowed their eyes with equal hostility. To say they knew this digimon was an understatement... they knew him extremely well, and they hated him even more.

"Hasn't Etemon killed you yet?"

Koushiro glanced back with a raised eyebrow. Really, Taichi? Great diplomacy, there... drop a few threats in and you'll be golden.

"Etemon is desperate to regain his former power. Even more desperate than the pathetic, so-called Digimon Hunters from _your_ world. The dark network is his last ace in the hole, so to speak, and he knows that no one can make that system dance for them like I can. He _needs_ me."

"Why did you contact us?"

Koushiro wasn't in a mood for games, nor for listening to the little runt's self-glorifying speeches, and he knew the others would feel the same. Even before the three weeks of fruitless searching had tired them all out, Datamon was the last face they would have ever wanted to see.

"Right down to business. Very well, punctuality favors my aims as well as it does yours. Simply put, I have an offer for you."

Koushiro raised both hands to push Taichi and Yamato back before either of them could get directly in front of the screen. Proactive leadership is good. Reactionary hostility, less so. Keep your heads cool, guys, at least until we hear him out...

"I have been following your movements since your return to the digital world, and I am quite certain now that you are currently seeking to locate the remaining crests. Let me then present to you _my_ end of this offer."

Datamon raised one hand directly in front of his camera, holding in it a familiar shape with a distinct red tint...

"That- you have one of the crests?"

"Indeed. The crest of Love. I located it quite some time ago, back when Etemon could have still been considered your primary rival. I had many plans for it, though ultimately they all proved fruitless. As of now, any attempts to access its data or powers for my personal use would no longer be worth the trouble, so I have found a much simpler use for it."

He lowered his hand and moved his face up to the camera again. He now had the whole team's attention, whether they liked it or not. Even if they hated him, he had something they needed... if they could get it from him without a fight, that would be ideal. If not, they would have to track him down and take it by force, which would be possibly even more annoying than their empty searches through the desert. Datamon was a tricky bastard...

"One of you can use this crest. I care not who, only that the power it gives you is used for my ends. So I offer you a simple exchange of goods for services. Myotismon has a facility in your world from which he administers most of his electronic operations. I want you to use this crest, kill his tech teams, and reduce the entire site to rubble."

Koushiro paused a moment before pushing a button to mute his computer's mic and quickly turning around to face the rest of the team.

"Thoughts?"

"It's obviously a trap."

"I agree. There's no way he would offer us a crest for something as simple as that."

Taichi and Jou. That was a rare combo to see agreeing about something so whole heartedly, but then, this was a rare set of circumstances. One enemy fighting against another, and they were being offered a crest for their aid...

"I'm not so sure. If it's a trap it seems like a pretty transparent one, and I can't imagine he and Myotismon could work together long enough to set up a trap for us."

"Who says Myotismon is even involved? For all we know the crest is a fake and when we go to get it Etemon will be waiting to ambush us."

Yamato had a point... then again, Jou did too. Politics... Koushiro hated these sort of mind games. A tactical map was easy to read and plan ahead with, but reading people was infinitely harder. People were never as simple or logical as machines, even those like Datamon who practically were machines themselves.

"It might be worth the risk if there's a chance we might get another crest."

"IF there's a chance. I don't see any reason why we should believe him."

Sora, trying to be the voice of reason, and Taichi being as stubborn as ever. Koushiro sighed and began filtering out their voices inside his head, knowing full-well where this conversation would go before long. Two sides, divided opinions, no middle ground. It was a binary choice, they had to go one way or the other.

"Koushiro,"

Through it all, speaking up above the rest who had begun to bicker, was Mimi, bringing the group's attention back to the techie. She used to be a stereotypical chatty girl, always saying whatever popped into her head, but over the past three years she had gotten quieter, and distinctly wiser as well. Now she was rarely chatty except when they all had a chance to rest. In the other times, when she opened her mouth she always had something worth listening to.

"What do _you_ think?"

Koushiro paused, sighing again, replaying all the previous statements over in his head. Too many variables... hard to see a clear answer.

"I don't know. They're... _everyone's_ right. It's a major risk, but there's a chance for a major reward... but Datamon also knows this, which is why there's so much risk it could be a trap.

"Forget about Datamon. What do you think about the _situation_?"

Koushiro paused and glanced up to her, raising an eyebrow. He was just explaining what he thought of the situation... with all the present variables, it was far too complex-

"What did Datamon ask us to do?"

What did- wait... the raid on the facility. He said it was...

Closing his eyes, Koushiro lowered his head slightly, slipping into his 'savant' mode as the others had dubbed it. It would take him a few seconds to push everything else out of his mind, but once he had he could set his mental gears toward working this problem with no interference. Instinctively he would verbalize his thoughts, just rattling off each factor as it came to mind.

"The facility, electronic control. Dark network. Central hub, tech teams... security breach. Eliminate the facility, recapture part of the network. Central hub... secure. Heavily defended. Maximum firepower needed. Crest would improve odds. Digidestined... trustworthy. Honest. Chance of betrayal minimal. Trade crest, recruit digidestined, avoid danger to self. Eliminate facility, recapture network, establish power base... supplement with support. Extended alliance with digidestined. Abandon targets in human world, focus on capturing digital world."

Koushiro's voice abruptly cut off and his mind quickly cycled through the entire process again, silently looking for flaws in his assessment. It was sound... he hadn't considered the long-term implications of how strengthening the alliance of Datamon and Etemon now might harm them later, but he knew where things stood at the moment. Opening his eyes, he would turn to look up at Mimi again, who was watching him with a certain sense of satisfaction. She knew he could figure it out...

"He's telling the truth."

The others were silent for a moment, contemplating everything they'd heard him go over and the implications of it all.

"Is it worth it? Getting a crest now in exchange for making a known enemy stronger in the long run?"

Koushiro glanced to Jou, now feeling much calmer than he had a minute ago. A good question... but that didn't much matter to him. He was the technical expert. While he often carried the illusion of making decisions for the team, he merely provided them with the information they needed to reach the optimal outcome of their own decisions.

"I'm not the leader. It's not my place to decide things like that. I'm just telling you what will happen if we help him."

Silence again, and Koushiro turned to Taichi, after which all other eyes soon followed. Time for an executive decision, boss...

Taichi's memories of the first invasion were still raw. In some ways, they were more horrifying than the later attacks by the significantly more dangerous and better organized Myotismon because they were the first... they were the moments that scarred him, that made him realize the hell of war. By the time Myotismon came onto the scene, all of those scars had already been inflicted.

But Taichi wasn't solely an impulsive and emotional leader. He knew, fortunately enough, how to make the hard choices. This was one such choice, empowering an enemy he despised to fight another enemy that he only dreaded. Even if they would regret it later, there was one simple fact they couldn't overlook. The crests... there were no replacements for them. No substitutes. The crest that Datamon had, they _had_ to get, and they couldn't afford to wait for another opportunity later.

"Make it happen, Koushiro."

The tech nodded and quickly spun back around to face his screen again, switching his mic back on for the ever-patient machine on the other end that was awaiting their response.

"What can you tell us about the facility?"

* * *

"It's a former Hunter facility in the captured residential sector four. As far as we can tell, it's a network hub from where the Hunters watched the city for potential gate jumps by invaders before you consolidated those operations in a more secure sector."

Koushiro relayed their information to Hikari at the Hunter base as she sat at one of the consoles in her new garb, double-checking the Hunters' own records of the site. Meanwhile, Katsu stood behind her, watching and listening to every detail while remaining ever-elusive in the background where the children didn't know of his presence.

"According to our records, all the systems in the facility were fried on evacuation. We have several witnesses that testify to it, so I don't think he could have re-purposed anything that was left behind."

Hikari skimmed the old reports, picking out whatever useful pieces of information she could. The facility wasn't a site of major importance. Though it had been at one point, the nearness to the front forced them to migrate most of their tech teams elsewhere and it slowly became less important. There was only one major issue with it that was still notable...

"The surface structure was an office building. The Hunter section of the facility was underground, so breaking in is going to be a challenge."

"Not necessarily. Our sole objective is elimination. If we can get a map of key structural points, we may be able to collapse the entire structure without-"

"No good. Each level of the basement was divided from the others by reinforced steel and concrete. A collapse probably wouldn't get down past the first basement. Maybe to the second, if you added a little extra power."

"I didn't realize you were an architectural expert."

"I'm not. I'm just reading what the reports say about how it was built. If you want to collapse it to the lowest level, you'll have to drop a lot more on it than you're thinking."

Silence for a moment as both sides contemplated the situation. One way or another, this site had to come down, else they wouldn't be able to get the crest they needed. Unfortunately, sending in backup teams wouldn't work. It was too deep in Myotismon's territory for them to reach it, and it would only alert him to what was happening anyway. This attack had to be swift... in and out before he could send backup.

"Could we call for official military support? Conventional weapons aren't as effective against digimon, but this site is human-made. A precision airstrike could bring it down."

"No good. The Hunters pulled some of those in the early days of the war, then Myotismon set up an air defense grid. He has his own air force swarming his sectors constantly, ready to take out any bombs or missiles we try to drop."

Hikari had that same thought during her training, when she learned about some of the Hunter facilities being captured by Myotismon. And indeed, a few _had_ been taken out in such a way before he got wise. Unfortunately, that venue was now cut off for them, so they had to continue down the path of conventional warfare with their data-based weapons.

"We're a little short on options, then. A direct raid looks like the only way to go, but getting down into the facility and then destroying it from the inside... that would take far too long. We'd be surrounded well before we could set up an escape."

Hikari glanced back as Katsu suddenly turned away and flipped open his cellphone. Odd... she never saw him use that. He always used the base phones to contact anyone. That is... anyone from the standard Hunters or SDZ.

"Ken, it's me. I need info on a Hunter facility. Residential sector four, a network hub. I need to know if we installed any back doors for rogue protocol."

Ken... Hikari didn't know that name, but if he was being called on a regular cellphone then he clearly wasn't with the Hunters. Seems Katsu had his hands on a few things that were off the books as well.

"Hold on a second, Koushiro. We may have an answer."

Hikari turned back again and waited. In a moment Katsu requested a pen and paper, which she promptly provided. After scribbling a few things, the conversation ended and he was at Hikari's side, handing her the paper and leaning in to mutter at her ear.

"Give them this data. It will allow them to access sub-basement thirteen directly from the digital world."

He turned and moved back to the command table, grabbing the base phone to make a call to someone else on base while Hikari glanced back to the blueprints on her screen. Sub... wait, that wasn't...

"The facility only has eleven basement levels."

She turned back to him again, but he was ignoring her. Dang it, what the heck was _this_ now? Sighing, she turned to the console just in time to catch Koushiro's question to her.

"What do you mean? What's going on, Hikari?"

"I just got a paper with some info. Looks like something computer-ish. I think it's a... server location, and the password to access it. It's supposed to give you access to sub-basement thirteen."

"But there's only eleven basements?"

"Exactly... I have no idea what's down there. It's not on the blueprints."

Rogue protocol... the rogue six... wait, but did that mean they set this up in case the rogues might need to use it one day? That... if that was the was the case, it would mean they had a plan to do cooperative operations with the rogues since... how old was that place? From the blueprints, it looked like it pre-dated Myotismon's invasion, back to... the first invasion from Etemon.

Katsu was back again, leaning over her side and whispering where the others couldn't hear. She'd almost gotten used to him relaying secretive orders to her over the last three weeks, but now she started feeling extremely unnerved. The more she learned about Katsu, the more she had to wonder about just what he was up to... and how many secrets he had buried that even the Hunters didn't know about.

When she heard Katsu's words her eyes went wide for a moment, adding this latest piece to her whole mental image of what was happening. She couldn't yet grasp the whole picture yet, but from what she could, it was... terrifying. Clearing her throat, she nodded and leaned in toward the digivice again.

"Koushiro, we have several demolitions teams prepping for an operation. They're going to deliver their charges to a site where you can pick them up and then take them with you when you jump into basement thirteen."

"And from there, we'll be able to collapse the entire site into the lowest level?"

"That's the plan."

The plan... a plan which was prepared from the very beginning, when the building was constructed, so that the rogues could slip in and demolish the site without being detected at some point in the future. And this was back when it was a site of major importance to the Hunters. This wasn't just a huge contingency plan, this...

Oh my God... this was a plan for... insurrection. Revolution, even. How many other important sites were prepped this way? Maybe even central command? With the right tools, the rogues could cripple the entire Hunter infrastructure in a day. And Katsu... Katsu and his elusive friend, Ken... if they had the codes and locations of all the sites, then they literally had the power to hold the entire Hunter organization ransom on a whim.

"What are the chances Myotismon could know about this secret sub-level?"

Hikari snapped back to attention, though she was scarcely able to focus with the thoughts that now swarmed in her mind. Turning back to Katsu, she looked lost... she didn't have an answer for them, so she had to ask... that boy. The boy that now terrified her. Now she began to understand why everyone was afraid of him... and yet, most likely none of them knew of the things she had just learned. He was even more dangerous than any of them imagined.

"The computer at that level is invisible to the network. Completely idle, doesn't respond to anything, including pinging. The only way to access it is to know the ID, location, and pass code. Get any of those wrong and you won't even be able to tell that there was a system there to access."

Hikari slowly nodded and echoed the entire explanation back to Koushiro, who went silent for a few moments. Did he realize it as well? He had to... this was suspicious beyond description. Except... he didn't know that a single officer held exclusive knowledge of this contingency. All he would realize was that the Hunters had implemented security measures for a worst-case scenario and that they required the rogues' help to make use of them. If the highest levels of Hunter command knew about it, it would merely be an example of their extreme paranoia, not... what it really was.

"Roger. We'll prepare for the operation and let you know when we're ready to receive the munitions."

The standard farewells were given and the digivice went silent once more. Seems Datamon's plan didn't work out quite like he expected. They wouldn't be doing a raid on the site after all, so the Crest of Love would be of no use to them whatsoever. But it would be a boon to their efforts... so long as they made sure to acquire it _before_ the operation took place so that Datamon couldn't hold it ransom and demand more help.

On the one hand, things were starting to look up. Three crests before... now four. And they had a new helper, albeit a potentially hazardous one. Still, as long as Myotismon remained a threat, he would be an aid to their cause. And if bringing down this site caused as many problems for him as they expected... they could well be on their way to turning the war around.

However, she had just learned that their enemies might not only be from without... there was no telling what Katsu had planned when the entire war was over. And that he held so much power over them without them even knowing it...

Hikari could only conclude that the Hunters were doomed. One way or another, between Myotismon, the alliance of Etemon and Datamon, and now Katsu... something was going to destroy them. It was just a question of who would be the last one standing when the dust settled.

* * *

Final note: I put up a link in my profile to a picture of the 'new' Hikari for those that are interested. May eventually find images for each of the other main characters as well, but for now I'm sticking with just her since she's the main character of focus.


	6. Origins

A/N: First of all, I'd just like to thank all the reviewers for the positive comments and feedback. I honestly wasn't expecting this much support. For the most part, I've been feeling like the whole story has been getting bogged down a little by all of backstory build-up and lack of action, but I'm glad to see everyone has been enjoying it anyway.

This chapter was a little hard to write for just that reason. There's some major events coming up and I've been chomping at the bit to get to them. I was planning to start them this chapter, but I realized there were a few loose ends that needed tying up before then. Fortunately, starting next chapter I'll be able to start really digging into the meat of the story, so to speak.

UBA: Lots of good questions, though I can't really answer any of them without giving away spoilers. Though, I will say that there will probably be a few more cameos popping up here and there. Dunno how many or how often as I don't want to just throw them in when it doesn't fit with the plot, but rest assured you'll be seeing more familiar faces eventually.

Chapter 6: Origins

**Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.**

Unlike the previous operation, which had to be thrown together almost on a whim to take advantage of the tiny time window they had, this one would involve a great deal more preparation. Koushiro called for two days to prepare everything before receiving the munitions. Hikari personally didn't understand all the reasons for this... their trump card that Katsu had given them seemed to give them an open door for a quick and decisive strike, but then, she wasn't the strategist.

That night, after she had returned to her room and was ready to lay down to sleep, she received an unexpected call through her digivice.

"Hikari, if you're still awake, please respond."

Koushiro... why was _he_ calling her? And at this hour, no less?

"I'm here. Is something wrong?"

"Yes. Sub-basement thirteen."

Fortunately, Koushiro couldn't see her tense up when he mentioned that... just what did he know? And how much more did he suspect? They didn't call him a genius for no reason...

"Obviously, this is part of a Hunter contingency plan in case the building was ever captured. Were there any other buildings rigged this same way?"

"I don't know for cer-"

No... that was a lie. Katsu said it... a back door for the rogue protocol. It was true that she didn't have proof, but she didn't have to have proof to be certain. It was clear enough from what she saw and heard. Sighing, she quickly dismissed her earlier words.

"...yes. I don't know how many, or which ones, but I'm sure there are some others built the same way."

"I suspected as much. We'll have to account for that in our plan."

Wait, what? Account for the other buildings... what was Koushiro planning?

"Hold it... what are you guys going to _do_?"

"We're going to launch a raid on the surface structure with all of our perfect-level digimon and hit it with everything we can."

Hikari blinked, finding herself more confused with every sentence Koushiro spoke. Was he deliberately being enigmatic to keep something from her, or was his mind simply outrunning his mouth?

"Okay, back up... you're going to get the explosives and set them underground, right? Why would you need to launch a raid? It's not going to help anyway."

"We can't simply detonate the charges underground with no warning. It would alert Myotismon, as well as Datamon and Etemon, to the fact that there are Hunter facilities set up for controlled demolition this way. We have to cover it up so they don't suspect the truth. We'll set up the charges in advance, but we'll have to time the detonation with our attacks to make it look like we caused the collapse from the outside."

Hikari was quiet for a moment, contemplating what this would mean. The digidestined were doing exceptional, as always... with Koushiro's brilliance leading them, it seemed like they could do nothing wrong. If it were simply them and Myotismon determining the outcome of the war, that would have been ideal, but his cleverness also presented some problems.

In some ways, his brilliance was a curse for the cooperative efforts between the digidestined and the Hunters. He figured this out too quickly. He knew too much. Hunter command wouldn't be pleased with that if they found out, though it was Katsu who scared her far more...

Ever since Hikari had taken up an attitude with Katsu, others had started to fear her. Nobody else pulled that off without being punished, but she could, thus their fear of Katsu translated to a fear of _her_ because she could face him where nobody else could. She at first imagined that making him back down about the uniform and other such things were small victories, but it was all serving his ends in the long run. Now the mysterious new arrival, Hikari, a girl that nobody knew anything about, was feared and respected among many of the Hunters she commanded and nobody had a chance to get to know her enough to realize that it was all an illusion.

So then, how much of this was he expecting? Did he know that Hikari had figured out what rogue protocol was? She was almost positive he was expecting this call from Koushiro to Hikari, and he was letting them get away with it... of course he was. If someone from SDZ knew, they'd have to report it to command, who would then learn about how their own bases were rigged to blow. It wasn't just Myotismon and Datamon that were going to be tricked by this plan, it was the Hunters as well.

But all that only unnerved Hikari more, for it felt like he was always there, watching her... even when she was alone, he seemed to have anticipated what she was going to do well in advance. Then again... was that really so hard? She wanted to win the war and save her brother, as well as all his friends. At the end of the day, her list of possible choices was incredibly small.

Like now, for instance... if she told Koushiro about any of this, the news would reach Taichi and _then_ what would happen? He'd fear for her... it would affect his judgment and cause problems in the future. That meant she had to keep her peace. The troubles and dangers she faced from being so close to Katsu were things she had to face alone. She couldn't preoccupy her... fellow rogues with these problems. They needed to remain keenly focused on their own objectives.

"Alright. I'll trust you to take care of it, then. Just be careful. That's deep in Myotismon's territory, and I don't want to hear after you get back that my brother... that _any_ of you got hurt."

"Don't worry. Being careful is my job. However, I may need to extend the preparation period... I'll let you know as soon as I have a new time estimate."

Hikari gave an acknowledgment before cutting off the call. Alright, no more thinking. Sleep now. She'd have several days to contemplate the situation while Koushiro prepared, and she couldn't work exhausted.

* * *

When Hikari awoke the next morning, she would find herself almost doubting the events of the previous day. Rogue protocol... now that she had a chance to sleep on it, it almost felt like a sort of dream.

How exactly did a child... perhaps two children, manage to set up the Hunters like this without being found out? The Hunters were the ones _building_ the facilities! If something was slipped into the blueprints during construction, somebody would have found it, and if they did anything outside of the blueprints, somebody would have noticed the deviation from the plans.

What kind of insane world was she living in? All this time she'd been going along with Katsu and the Hunters, noticing tiny anomalies here and there, simply acknowledging them each time, and at one point that seemed like a rational course. The problems had been so small that she could accept them as making sense, but now...

Katsu, a child, had his own division in the digimon Hunters. He'd rigged the Hunters' key sites to be destroyed at his command. He was feared by adults who stood against monsters from _another dimension_ on a daily basis! Certainly, the rogues likely had something to do with it. Children fighting on the front lines with more success than the adults had forced a few people to change their perspectives on the war, but this... this was just insanity. Maybe even stupidity.

There _had_ to be more to it than what she knew, otherwise the people who were tasked with protecting humanity from digimon were literally gambling their entire future on a single, war-hardened child. A strategically brilliant child, yes... but even the most brilliant adults didn't operate with the level of autonomy and total lack of oversight that Katsu had.

She knew of only one place to find answers, and so that would be her first destination in the morning after getting dressed and out of her room. Screw training. This was more important. If Katsu had a problem with it, she'd make him understand... she wouldn't be much good at her duties with all these questions preoccupying her mind anyway. Either she could get to work on time and do it badly, or get there late and do it well, and she already knew which one he would prefer.

Hikari hadn't visited Masaharu's new office since his promotion; he had always come to them instead. So when she knocked on his door and asked for entry, he was more than a little surprised to hear her voice. Still, he let her in without question. She was second to Katsu, so he knew it had to be for something important.

"I have questions about Katsu, and I need answer _now_."

That Hikari locked the door to keep anyone from stepping in and hearing the conversation didn't surprise him. That the questions that came up were about Katsu did, if only because he had expected she would have learned enough by now that she wouldn't need to come to _him_. It seemed like she and her promotion to second-in-command of the SDZ had become Katsu's pet project. He'd already gotten the others to fear her, and she was performing well above expectations for only having been in training three weeks... yet apparently he hadn't told her enough about himself to satisfy her curiosity.

Is this more of your game, Katsu? Forcing her to find the answers herself as another part of her training? After a few moments of contemplation, Masaharu sighed.

"Hikari, I don't exactly have a lot of free time to-"

He was suddenly interrupted by her slamming both her palms down on his desk. He was taken aback by this, if only because he wasn't used to seeing her so... _aggressive_.

"_I_ don't time to be kept in the dark while all this crap is happening around me!"

All thi- ah... realization flashed across Masaharu's eyes. Katsu was up to something, and he hadn't reported it up the ladder. Of course... well, now Masaharu knew what his former superiors felt like every time he hadn't reported the SDZ's covert operations to _them_.

"Alright... fair enough. But I don't have all day, so we need to make this succinct."

Succinct. That was fine with her. Her questions were simple and direct enough that she only really needed to ask one.

"Katsu is a child. He's the head of his own Hunter division, feared by everyone, and he operates without anyone overseeing him. You, his _superior_, take orders from him most of the time. How did something like that even _happen_?"

Masaharu went quiet for a few more seconds. What a loaded question... but also a sensible one. The means and methods Katsu employed to reach his current position were unconventional to say the least, and if Hikari was going to work with him and operate anywhere close to his level, she needed to know the whole story.

"I'll tell you everything about the history of Katsu Fang... but that's it. If you have other questions, they'll have to wait for another day. Deal?"

Hikari simply nodded and moved to sit down in front of the desk. Storytime again. She'd learned how the war began from her brother, including many details even the Hunters knew nothing about. Now it was time to hear the rest of the story.

"Katsu Fang first came onto the scene before the first invasion. It was during the early monster attacks, before we even knew what we were actually up against. I assume you remember?"

She nodded again. Of course she did... those early news reports terrified the entire world. Monsters appearing out of nowhere, the military being all but powerless against them... of course, now she understood more than she did back then. The rift that they emerged from... it was supposed to be the first invasion, except that those digimon had no leader. Devimon, the one who opened it, died in the process, so the first attacks came completely uncoordinated, a fact that likely saved the city in the long run. It gave humans a chance to learn what they were fighting before they were thrown into real war.

"When Katsu first appeared, nobody knew his name. He was just a child who said he knew how to fight the monsters. Nobody believed him, of course, but he said he had proof. He gave the military men a stack of papers containing information on some kind of... scientific theorem. They didn't make much sense at the time. I'm not a scientist, so I can't really explain any of it, but from what I could understand it was... chaotic. It was like, you run the same equation through a calculator several times and you get a different answer each time. It seemed like the insane writings of a traumatized child, but they were _so_ chaotic that it was impossible for them to simply be random. Even nonsense equations should give you the same answer every time.

We know now that the theorem contained an explanation of the basic principles of data-based life. Though they couldn't understand much of it at the time, they figured out enough to produce a basic data-based weapon. The original design was a mess... barely even functional, let alone useful, but even in that state it was as effective as the military's conventional weapons, so it validated the child's claims. By then, however, he had disappeared. He didn't show up again until the beginning of the first invasion, when Etemon appeared.

This time he introduced himself by name. We couldn't confirm he was exactly the same child... we didn't even have any records of what the original child looked like, but this time he brought three more theorems which seemed to work along the same lines as the original. That was enough proof for most people, so he was recruited into the Digimon Hunters, which was still in its infancy at the time."

"What was in those three new theorems?"

"I can't say. There are labs all over the world that have been working over them every day for three years, and we're still struggling to finish deciphering the _original_. I hear there's a lab in America that's on the verge of solving the final pieces of it, and they claim the first of the three is a more advanced version of the original. As for the second, the best answers we've gotten were from some of the children in SDZ. They say it relates to thought and emotion and how they interact with life and matter from the digital world."

"And you don't know anything about the last one?"

"Not in any way that we can describe. Only one child from the SDZ could even comprehend it, and we had trouble making any sense of it when he tried explaining it to us. The best we can tell is that... it is to the second theorem what the second is to the first. Like how thought and emotion are on a level above the physical world, it's relating to something on an even higher level."

"Like... spiritual or something?"

"Maybe? Like I said, nobody knows, and Katsu won't say anything of what they mean. He won't even say where he got them from. I've asked him before and sometimes I get the feeling he doesn't even understand them all himself. But without knowing where they came from, all we can do is keep working to solve them."

Masaharu took a deep breath, leaning back in his seat and shaking his head.

"Anyway, we've gotten off-track... Katsu was recruited into the Hunters as a technical adviser since he brought the theorems, but most of his focus turned to the war itself. Strategy, tactics, command. Basically, everything he's doing now. At the time they tried to keep him out, but every time he made a prediction that conflicted with the popular opinion of the other commanders, he was proven right. For whatever reason, he understood the logic and intentions of the invaders better than our commanders, even when their intentions seemed to be completely irrational.

That was about the time people started to fear him. The way he understood digimon and their nature, he was like something inhuman. After sufficient pressure, eventually the Hunters founded the SDZ and put Katsu in charge. At the time, I was already with the Hunters. Though I was just a civilian when most of the others around me were military, I was picked to oversee the SDZ because of its similarity to the rogues – a child army – and, of course, they knew about my son being one of the rogues. Also, with my civilian background they figured it would be easier for me to take orders from a child than it would have been for most of the military men.

Since then... there's not much to say. The rest you can piece together yourself. Katsu kept being proven right, and kept pushing for more influence. Eventually he was given general authority over standard Hunter affairs, though he's still under the other commanders in terms of official authority. The SDZ keeps expanding as he recruits children he sees potential in, and he's become like a second leader for the R&D teams here in Odaiba. And now... the overseer of the SDZ has a chair with the officers at the top of Hunter command."

Masaharu went silent as Hikari contemplated the picture in her mind. So that was it... a few demonstrations of brilliance and an unnatural understanding of an alien enemy and his power just grew from there. It made sense in terms of logical progression. There was still one problem, but how to ask about it...

"...when was the SDZ founded?"

"In the latter half of the first invasion. By then we had started pushing Etemon back, thanks to Katsu's strategic advice and a lot of work by the rogues."

"Was he the one who came up with the way to secure the networks and stop the digimon gate jumps?"

Masaharu raised an eyebrow. That was a... suspiciously specific question. Not to mention one that didn't really relate to the rest of the conversation. Why would something like that matter to her?

"He helped... mostly with the theory, though. The work of actually developing our secure networks was done by the regular R&D teams."

So, Hikari was right. There was still a discrepancy. Had Katsu overseen the entire process of producing the network and planned every step of the network hub's construction, his 'safety measure' would make more sense, but he was never given that much official authority. That meant he had to have help from somewhere... or someone. Her thoughts turned to that other one, Ken, but she knew nothing about him... and she wasn't about to ask Masaharu. She had pried enough as it was, and she didn't want him suspecting what was going on.

Nodding slowly, she would finally stand from her seat.

"I think I understand better now. I still have more questions, but they can wait. Sorry for taking up your time."

Masaharu shook his head before Hikari could turn to leave.

"Don't be. I wish I had more of it... I like talking to you, Hikari. It reminds me of... what it was like to have a normal family."

Hikari paused a moment. A normal family... not that she was normal, but it was a comforting thought. Apparently Masaharu had started to think of her as his own daughter, and maybe Natsuko did too. That was fine with her. Though they would never replace her own parents in her heart, it was good to have people like them in the Hunters with her. People she could trust as her own family.

"I'll try to come and talk again sometime soon. Next time I have a chance..."

…assuming she ever _did_ have another chance. She didn't know where this series of events would lead her. She was learning more than she should have, and there was a chance that Katsu or Hunter command would have a problem with her in the near future. If that happened, she might possibly have no way out except to run... assuming there was anywhere for her to run to. The only parts of Odaiba that didn't belong to the Hunters were held by Myotismon...

* * *

"We'll set up the charges in advance, but we'll have to time the detonation with our attacks to make it look like we caused the collapse from the outside."

Koushiro repeated his previous explanation almost word-for-word, albeit without the opening questions. If Katsu already knew they had been discussing this matter covertly then it wouldn't do any good to try to fool him, but it would fool Koushiro at least. If going through the motions like this made him feel better, good. No need to distract anyone when they had a major operation coming up.

"When will you be ready for the pick up?"

"Immediately. We don't have the training of a military demolitions team, so we'll need extra time to make sure everything is set up right. While part of our team is doing that, the rest of us will finish planning the surface raid."

"Any idea on a timetable?"

"Our current plan is 60 hours. We could be ready before then, but I want the extra time to cover all possible contingencies. I also need to contact Datamon and cross-check his intel with ours. He's been spying on Myotismon through the dark network for a while and may have some valuable intel on troop movements in the area."

Katsu leaned down to mutter in Hikari's ear. Hmm... good question.

"You're planning to attack at midnight?"

"At the moment, yes. Digimon have to sleep just like humans do. Myotismon has enough nocturnal digimon in his army that we'll still be spotted easily, but if all goes well then he won't be able to get his standard army out to intercept us before we can escape."

Of course, the digidestined weren't nocturnal either... they couldn't see as well at night as many of the enemy's scouts, and there was a risk of ambush, but Koushiro had to know that. He'd been fighting alongside the others for three years. Undoubtedly they had made quite a few night raids in that time.

Hikari glanced back to Katsu, who nodded and turned away. No issues. Alright, time to advance to stage two.

"Alright, we're good. Give me a second to get the location where we'll be dropping off the explosives."

The rest of the process was simple enough, and in a few minutes she had relayed everything across to the children and ended the call.

The rest of the day passed without incident. Katsu didn't even mention the fact that she had been tardy, an anomaly by most standards.

Hikari was slowly starting to wonder how much of Katsu's reputation was actually earned. She knew his history now, so she understood some of the reasons for fearing him, but regarding his strict attitude, she had never seen him punish anybody for disobeying his commands. Of course, nobody but her had done so thus far. So was she being held to a different standard than the rest of the division? Or was all this just a massive mind game to make people think they were in more danger than they really were?

In any case, she concluded that she would figure that out later, once their current operation was finished. She didn't want to take any unnecessary risks when they were so close to the children getting another crest.

Still, she had a bit of unsatisfied curiosity, so she would take a few minutes to indulge herself at the end of the day. Heading to the R&D room, she was let in without question. Second-in-command of the SDZ, after all. Not many members of the research team were still there, but at least the lead was. He was the one she'd needed to see anyway.

"Oh, Ms. Yagami. I didn't expect you'd be coming in today. Special orders from Katsu?"

"No. I'm here for my own reasons. I need to know about _this_."

She placed her digivice on the desk in front of him and he glanced to it and then back to her with confusion.

"You've been in contact with the rogues. They know more about the device than we do. _We're_ still trying to work through all the data we got during its activation."

"Do you know where the Hunters found it? Nobody's mentioned anything about it so far."

The man paused for a moment to think before turning to the console on his desk to access the research records. After a minute he was skimming through the file.

"Well, it wasn't _found_, it was given to us. Says here by a civilian... one moment."

While he reading through the records in detail, Hikari's mind jumped back to the time when she first acquired it. She was positive they had said it was found by Hunters during some kind of mission. That meant somebody was lying... the question was who.

"Here it is. It was delivered to the Hunters by a civilian shortly after the evacuation of residential sector three. Young man... he said he found it while he was escaping his home and didn't recognize the design, so he thought it might be Hunter technology."

Hikari moved around behind the desk to read the report over the man's shoulder. True enough, it was in the official report... and the team lead seemed honest enough, so she doubted he was trying to deceive her... so where were the lies coming from, then?

"Where did it go after it got to the Hunters?"

"Well, I'm guessing it went to the guys at supply first, because it says here the quartermaster didn't recognize it. Then it was sent straight to us for study."

No clues there. No way of even knowing how much of this report was accurate... oh, wait.

"Who filed this report?"

"Let's see... oh, Masaharu Ishida. Overseer of SDZ. Well, former overseer now, I suppose."

Hikari's eyes locked on that name. Masaharu... for official matters, that might as well be the same as saying Katsu. He reported what he was told to... or at least what he was told. If his information didn't come directly from the soldiers, there was no way of knowing if even _he_ knew whether the report was right or not.

"Hmm... I see. Thank you."

Hikari turned to leave then, knowing she wouldn't get any more useful information here. She'd have to go directly to the source to find out the truth, and that wasn't an option just yet, so she headed back to her room to rest.

However, even as she lay in bed, one problem stuck out in her mind. The information... Katsu had to know what was on that original report, yet he told her something completely different. Why? Who was he trying to trick? Either he lied to the Hunters and told her the truth, or reported the truth the first time and lied to _her_, and she had no way of knowing which was true without asking directly.

Lying there on her bed, mind drifting, she mulled over these questions. Something about this whole situation was just... wrong, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. What was he trying to accomplish by lying to one group or the other? It wasn't as if it made a difference which-

Wait... no difference. Both stories, whether the Hunters found it or were given it, were equally ambiguous. In both cases, it was a seemingly random discovery. So he accomplished nothing at all by telling two separate stories except...

Except... making it possible for her to find out about the discrepancy. As his second-in-command, she had the authority to check that report. Two stories by the same person, neither of them giving her any information that was truly useful. That could only mean one thing.

They were _both_ lies. Had he told the same one both times, she would have had no way of realizing it was a lie. So he _wanted_ her to figure out what was going on. The number of suspicious events happening around them, from their mystery ally to Katsu and Ken's plot, and now her digivice... it wasn't by accident that she was discovering all this.

And there, in that moment, she came to understand him. The reason why Katsu was so unnaturally perceptive that it seemed to border on precognition. He wasn't... he didn't predict anything, he _engineered_ it.

Of course, the matter of _how_ he engineered it all was an enormous problem she couldn't quite resolve yet. Controlling the Hunters was fairly easy in his current position, but what about Myotismon? How do you engineer the actions of someone who's trying to kill you?

Moreover, to what end? If Katsu had this much control, why was the war going on this long? Was it due to some limits of his control, or was he after something other than victory? She briefly pondered the possibility that he might be working with Myotismon, and that all this was one big show to make the humans think they had a chance to win while slowly leading them toward their destruction. But no... that didn't seem right, either. It didn't fit his character, and it wouldn't explain why he was allowing Hikari to learn so much.

There was something from this whole picture she was still missing, and she was too tired to figure out what. She assumed she would discover it sooner or later, though... it seemed that part of Katsu's plan was to show her what was really happening in this war. She just had to keep digging for clues.

In the meantime, she'd keep helping the digidestined as best she could. One step at a time... they just had to keep moving and finding those crests. Once they had them all they could finally start to push back and then, she hoped, she would discover what this whole war was really about.


	7. Shadow of the Sun

A/N: First, apologies to Dictionary and anyone else who had trouble making sense of that last chapter. As mentioned, it wasn't a part of my original plan, so it was a bit awkward to write, and that probably came out in the final result. My hope is that with better planning, that will be avoided in future chapters. Also, it took a little longer to get this one out compared to past chapters due to some editing issues, so hopefully I'll be returning to a slightly quicker update schedule from here on.

Dictionary: Your review brought up an interesting point about how you expected to turn this one down in favor of the others. That was a major concern when I first started writing this because I know the whole "OMG, it's the end of the world!" idea has been played out countless times already, many of them badly. I was concerned that people may overlook this story from the assumption that it would be poor quality or cliché. It's encouraging to see that it's still catching people's eyes anyway.

UBA: Glad to see I'm managing to instill my writing with the mood that I was intending. While there's nothing wrong with a good slice of life fic, I've always been of the opinion that suspense is more interesting. The only problem is that when it's not done well, it's usually done _really_ badly, so I'm sometimes a little nervous to keep building the suspense. All the positive reviews keep me going, though, so I'll try to keep up the quality until the suspense finally explodes and everyone gets to see how all this is going to end up.

Chapter 7: Shadow of the Sun

**A man always has two reasons for doing anything: A good reason and the real reason.**

"Final checks complete. The charges are all set correctly. Is everybody else ready?"

Koushiro's voice echoed through the massive concrete chamber as he called through his digivice to his comrades. It had taken a while longer to set up everything as needed due to the complexity of the demolition. They knew they couldn't just blow the whole building at once. Instead, Koushiro had to be walked through the process of setting the fuses by one of the Hunters. They were rigged to blow in a timed pattern, starting from the center and moving out in a way that would look believable to anyone that might observe it.

Now all they had to do was tear open a large enough hole in the building and drop all their most powerful attacks down the center to the point where the collapse was to start. That would present its own challenges, but fortunately they had help planning that stage of the assault. Datamon was more than happy to provide advice on where best to break through the surface of the building to do the most damage to the sub-structure.

"Team's ready. I got the detonator waiting for you."

Taichi's voice sounded, followed by Yamato. Though they were just as often at each other's throats, when they managed to work together without any problems, there was simply no matching their ability to coordinate an operation effectively.

"The gate's ready, too. We'll need help getting it open, though."

"Already on my way. Sora, are you ready too?"

"Ready as I'll ever be..."

"I still think we should have had Sora and Biyomon practice digivolving to perfect before the operation."

Jou had a point. Without knowing for certain if she could do it on command, it put part of their operation at risk. However, they also couldn't risk having Myotismon find out about their trump card and tightening his security before the attack. So in the end Taichi chose stealth. The Crest of Love glowed like all the others, a sign that the holder held the traits necessary to make it work. Besides that, they all knew Sora, and nobody doubted that she, of all people, could harness its power.

"Too late for that now. Just focus on your end of the operation and let Sora worry about the crest."

Koushiro sighed as he reached the computer, pressing a button on his digivice to cut off his end of the conversation. While he would always openly support Taichi, he had to agree with Jou on this one. He hated leaving anything uncertain. Even if they were all confident that Sora could do it, it wasn't the same. Being confident in a math equation didn't prove it. Running the numbers and figuring out the answer did.

"You shouldn't worry so much, Izzy. I think some of your hair is already turning gray."

Izzy... Tentomon was probably the only one who could come up with a nickname like that. He was also the only one that was impossible to fool. Everyone else saw Koushiro as some kind of insurmountable icon of confidence. A machine that knew no fear, only pure logic... his partner knew the truth, though. He feared more than any of the others. That was why he was always so careful to leave nothing unaccounted for in their attacks.

"Jou's right, Tento. If Biyomon can't digivolve to perfect then all of this preparation is for nothing."

"Well, look at it this way. Worst case scenario, everybody dies. Then we won't have _anything_ to worry about."

Koushiro glanced over, giving his partner a look that suitably mixed surprise and bemusement. Where did he come _up_ with these things? Sighing again, Koushiro shook his head. Sure, Tento... whatever you say. In a few moments they were warping through the computer and back to the digital world where their companions waited.

"Time."

"23:52 in Odaiba. Just in time."

Koushiro nodded to Jou and turned back to the computer to begin work setting up his gate tunnel. Unfortunately, Myotismon had commandeered some of the Hunter technology and set up his own gate blocks in his regions as well. Koushiro could get through, of course; he just had to make sure he stayed up to date on the latest codes. Fortunately, Datamon was more than happy to hack the dark network and give them everything they needed for this operation.

The trick was timing. Once the enemy detected the intrusion, they'd lock down everything in the region, so they had to make a stealth entry under the network security, a process Koushiro had dubbed tunneling. Their cover lasted only so long, though, so they had to make their attack quick.

"Alright, the tunnel is set up. Taichi, give the order."

"Alright, one second."

Taichi grabbed his digivice to make a call first. Not that it would get them any help in the operation, but he wanted to make sure their allies were up to date on their operations nonetheless.

"Hikari, it's time."

He'd hear a yawn on the other end and he'd smirk slightly. Reminded him of when they were kids, how she'd always stay up late to play games with him even though she was obviously exhausted. Only now their games were a bit more serious...

"Alright... how's it looking?"

Taichi glanced to Koushiro as he made a quick signal with his fingers to the team, giving them the approximate timetable for their operations. While he went to setting his watch, Taichi turned his attention back to his digivice.

"Eight minutes, safe. After that it gets a little risky, but we're jumping in close enough that we should be able to wrap everything up before then. We'll contact you again after we're out."

"Got it. Stay safe, brother."

Taichi cut off the signal and nodded to Koushiro, who promptly held out one arm to Tentomon.

"Three, two, one, mark."

He and Tentomon activated the tunnel and started the watch simultaneously. Game time. The group all activated their digivices in unison, jumping as soon as the gate was open. Unlike the previous operation, where they followed the coordinated commands of the leader, this time they all knew well in advance what their roles were, so they went to work without a word.

First, digivolution. Birdramon took to the air with Sora, Taichi and Agumon, Garurumon took Yamato, Mimi and Palmon, and Kabuterimon followed up behind them with Koushiro, Jou and Gomamon. They were on-site in just over 30 seconds. Good start. Now to keep it up...

All the remaining digimon dismounted and digivolved to their adult forms. Now for the moment of truth... Taichi touched Sora's shoulder, drawing her attention to him for a moment. She was shaky, scared. So much seemed to be hinging on her, and if she failed...

"Just remember everyone who died in this war... and everyone still left. We're fighting for them."

Sora nodded slowly. Everyone she was fighting for... her mother, her friends, especially these five... no, these six. Hikari, too. She was as much a digidestined as the rest of them, even if she wasn't fighting alongside them yet. And then the ones who had been lost... thousands in the senseless fighting in Odaiba alone, countless digimon in the digital world, and... of course... Takeru.

They fought... _she_ fought... for all of them. She fought to protect them, not out of duty, not out of necessity, but because she loved them all.

When the brief light faded, the group stood in the shadows of four perfect-level digimon. The three they knew and one new one... Garudamon.

For a moment Sora could only gawk at the immensity of her partner's new form. Being a bird, she had expected it to digivolve into something that looked almost... elegant. Instead, she was greeted by this monster of a digimon. And yet she wasn't at all upset. In fact, she was more happy than anything. Fighting to protect... she smiled. Yes, this form suited her and her partner quite well.

Her mind snapped back to attention as she heard the first crash. Koushiro had dismounted MegaKabuterimon and climbed on MetalGreymon's back as the giant beetle rammed his horn into the entrance of the facility and proceeded to tear a gigantic rift down the center of the structure.

Sora glanced back, momentarily checking the condition of the others. Togemon and WereGarurumon were already busy beating back the scouts that tried to ambush them from behind. Though both could cause damage, neither had the explosive force behind their attacks that they would need to demolish a large structure, so they were given guard duty instead.

Their flank was safe. Now to finish the job quickly. The strike came from Ikkakumon, who launched a full volley of missiles around the gap to blow it wider and give the others a more clear shot at it.

"Sora, you ready?"

Sora grabbed her digivice and pulled it up to her mouth to call back to Taichi.

"Ready! Just give the signal!"

"Three...! two...!"

As he shouted, MetalGreymon fired his first volley of missiles, which made a sharp spike upward over the structure.

"One...! FIRE!"

Garudamon unleashed a massive blade of air from its wings together with MetalGreymon's second missile volley. The sweeping silhouette struck first, slicing down into the structure and weakening it as all of MetalGreymon's missiles came down and struck in unison. Koushiro triggered the detonator then as MegaKabuterimon finished the barrage, firing an orb of lightning into the heart of the destruction.

In the cacophony of explosions, it was hard to tell where one ended and the next began. The rumbling from deep underground was drowned out by the louder and significantly closer explosions from the surface well enough that the team almost doubted that the bombs even went off until the entire structure began crumbling downward.

For a moment the team simple watched the structure as the outer sections well into the core, falling deeper into the lowest levels of the sub-basements. It almost seemed too easy, too swift... they were all waiting for the other shoe to drop, but it never came. Finally, satisfied, they quickly turned away, each digimon shifting their forms to whatever was fastest or smallest. Palmon, Gomamon and Tentomon mounted with their partners on the backs of Garudamon, Garurumon and MetalGreymon and the entire group was off, back toward their point of arrival.

There were a few enemies pursuing, but nothing they couldn't easily demolish with a pair of missiles or a stream of blue fire. However, the real trouble came when they returned to the departure site and found the computers completely shut down.

"What the- how did they notice us so fast?"

Koushiro dismounted and ran to the computer, ignoring Taichi's shouts. Power was still on. Maybe he could log in and get the system up and running aga- oh... _oh_ no...

"This system isn't linked to the dark network."

Koushiro had assumed Myotismon had connected his entire system together through the dark network, combining his human and digital world networks into one massive, super-system. He hadn't... all the network connections in the human world were using what was left of the Hunters' original infrastructure.

"What does _that_ mean?"

Koushiro spun around and ran back toward MetalGreymon, shouting back to Yamato on the way.

"That means by destroying that hub, we didn't just weaken his system security! This whole sector's network has gone offline! Maybe even _ALL_ of Myotismon's networks in this world!"

"Wait a minute... that's good! We did even more damage than we were expecting!"

Taichi shouted as Koushiro got aboard the dinosaur's back again. The techie shook his head, grabbing his digivice.

"It's good if we can get out of here alive! Right now there's no active network connections in this sector – and possibly _anywhere_ in Myotismon's territory – that we can use to get back to the digital world! We have to make a run for the front lines!"

The front lines... _shit_. They all knew that was where Myotismon's defenses were the thickest, and not only that...

"By the time we get there, his entire army is going to know we're here!"

Not that Yamato had any better ideas, but suicide in general just seemed like a bad one to him

"Let's just hope taking down the network will slow them down! We don't have any other choice!"

Of course, Myotismon was paranoid, so they all knew that there had to be some kind of backup system in place to communicate with his armies. The question was how long it would take to switch over to the other system and how effectively they could get the orders around once the switch was made.

Still, as Koushiro said, no other choice. The team rushed off toward the nearest Hunter barrier that they knew of while Koushiro sent a call out for help.

"Hikari! We have a problem – change of plans! We're making a run for the nearest barrier!"

"_What?!_ What happened? Is everyone okay?"

"We're fine! The hub is down, but the network in this entire region is down with it! Myotismon never linked any of his systems in this world to his dark network in the digital world, so we have no way back! We have to get back into Hunter territory and gate jump from there!"

Silence from the other end. He didn't know if Hikari was simply too shocked to reply or if something was happening in the background that he didn't know about, but he was soon too distracted to care. Ahead of them was the first group of enemies to intercept them, lead by a large, beastly, perfect-level digimon.

"Tentomon, digivolve!"

Koushiro jumped off MetalGreymon's back and on to his partner's as his digivolved to his adult stage and took to the air, then quickly digivolved again to MegaKabuterimon.

"Everyone, link up!"

Taichi shouted the command and soon all of their digivices were connected in communication mode, linking them all to the call Koushiro had made to Hikari before.

"We don't have time to get bogged down! Everyone, break through!"

Garudamon was the first to strike, sending a blade of air cutting across its face and knocking it back. MegaKabuterimon then charged, ramming it with his horn to throw it back while simultaneously plowing through the lower-level digimon to create a gap for Garurumon to run through. MetalGreymon delivered the final blow, stabbing it down into the pavement with his metallic claw.

With one member of Myotismon's elite army scratched off the roster, the digidestined fled, ignoring the small fry. As the violence quieted for a moment, Hikari came back on the line.

"Everyone, go straight south. The DA teams are there on our side of the barrier and waiting for you. Call when you get close and they'll open the gate for you."

"The DA teams? How'd they..."

Taichi was cut off by Koushiro, who understood all too well what was happening.

"Hikari, did the Hunters _know_ this would happen?"

Despite the surprise, the team adjusted its course anyway. Heading directly south would mean traveling a little farther to get to the barrier, but having backup would make the extra distance worth it.

"No. But things go wrong, and my... boss is paranoid. They were there in case of emergency."

"Seems his paranoia was right... tell your boss we said thanks."

Taichi muttered and ducked down behind MetalGreymon's helmet as he saw the next group of enemies approaching.

"He already knows."

The next wave of enemies was much like the first. A cluster of weaker enemies with a powerful lead, this time an airborne one. Koushiro continued flying at ground level, charging through the weaker enemies to carve a path for Garurumon to run through.

Higher up, Garudamon made a different charge, ramming a flaming fist into the bird's face to throw it back into a nearby building. MetalGreymon followed up with a pair of missiles to its chest before Garudamon tore across its body with her foot talons, sending it falling to the streets below, hopefully never to rise again.

Two down, and they were still making good time. Amazing what kind of feats desperation could push one to accomplish.

For a while, most of the remaining enemies were small fry, easily dispatching. Apparently those two stronger foes weren't part of the regular defenses in this region. Must have been part some of the troops called to defend the hub when the first arrived.

Unfortunately, their luck didn't hold when they reached the barrier. There, having gathered from the surrounding sections of the barrier, were roughly a dozen perfects waiting for them, including one of Myotismon's generals that they recognized from previous encounters but were so far unable to overcome – Phantomon.

From all their previous encounters with Phantomon, they knew it would take an immense amount of firepower to bring him down. And with that many other powerful digimon at his back... Taichi knew victory here would be almost impossible.

"SHIT! Hikari, we can't cross here, it's too heavily gua-"

"Too late."

Hikari's words came just in time for them to notice the gate behind the digimon open. The gates had been built on the largest roads in the city to speed evacuation between sectors when it came to that, so there was plenty of space to march a decently sized army through. In this case, the entirety of the DA teams seemed to emerge at once. The task force was at least as large as the group that assisted them in their last operation, perhaps even larger now.

Yet even with all that firepower, they didn't stand a chance against that many perfect-level digimon. Within seconds, a half dozen vehicles were swept off the streets and thrown into nearby buildings or into the barrier itself, instantly killing the occupants.

"Hikari! Tell them to withdraw, _NOW!_"

"I can't... they know their duty, Taichi. Get to the gate."

Hikari barely choked out her words. She knew what was going to happen... the army was knowingly marching to its death in order to rescue the children from a self-inflicted crisis. They screwed up... they made a mistake, failed to iron out a single flaw in their plan, and the price would be the lives of all those men.

"_NO!_ NOT HERE! WE FOUGHT TO PROTECT THESE PEOPLE, NOT TO WATCH THEM _DIE!_"

Garudamon charged the heart of the enemy army, the pavement ahead of it suddenly igniting into a tornado of flame that followed her pace, speeding toward the core of the enemy army.

"Sora! Stop, that's-!"

"Too late!"

Yamato shouted across to Koushiro before glancing to Taichi. No other choice now. They were all in. Yamato and Jou quickly dismounted Garurumon before he digivolved. Gomamon promptly took his adult form as well to begin raining down missile fire on the enemies. It wouldn't do much damage, but it would distract from the Hunters, which was what mattered most now.

Palmon had grabbed a nearby lightpost to pull Mimi away from Garudamon and the danger she was throwing herself into. Once down, Palmon quickly turned to Togemon and ran ahead to serve as another distraction to shield the Hunters. Then the rest of the group charged.

The perfects who managed to dodge the tornado or flame were caught by missiles on one side and lighting bolts on the other, forcing the entire group to quickly scatter in fear, save for their general. Instead, Phantomon simply charged through the flames, ignoring the pain to make for a straight shot at Garudamon and the girl that clung to her shoulder.

Though his scythe would miss its intended target, protecting her human partner would expose Garudamon's wing to an easy blow. The strike sent her momentarily tumbling from the sky. She would catch herself crashing down completely, but it would be a rough landing that would leave shaken and vulnerable for a few more vital seconds.

As Phantomon came to strike again, he was intercepted by a clawed foot to the face. The attack was surprising enough to leave him reeling a moment, after which he was promptly struck again by several clawed fists, forcing him to jump back and take to the air to escape the barrage.

Behind him, two members of his support had already gone down. MetalGreymon and MegaKabuterimon had similar ideas, with the former seizing a large machine digimon by the throat and hoisting him up to use as a shield from his allies' own attacks. After taking a sufficient amount of damage, he was tossed into the heart of the group and promptly blasted with a pair of missiles.

As for the latter, the beetle managed to catch a large mammoth-type creature between the points of its horn and ram it into the barrier, forcing it between the regular shield and the chaotic secondary shield that Masaharu had told him about. Trapped between the two barriers, it was quickly mangled by the energy before a single bolt of lightning tore it to pieces, finishing it off.

MegaKabuterimon was quickly caught in a barrage of attacks from the others, however. MetalGreymon, too, was forced to act as a shield to intercept the enemies on the ground lest they tear through another line of Hunter vehicles.

Their defensive line was only marginally effective at best. Hunters were still falling on each side, wherever they didn't have a digimon to shield them. Ikkakumon's missile distraction was cut short as one of the enemies tried to come after him directly, forcing him to flee. Togemon was also forced back, unable to handle the attacks from the enemies a full evolutionary level above her.

While those two made a run for the gate, the remaining attention turned to Sora and Garudamon. They had to run... if they didn't the rest of them would soon be overrun.

"Sora! You have to get out of here! We can't keep this up!"

Even if Yamato was right, Sora didn't want to hear it... too many were dead already. They couldn't let this keep going. But if they stayed... _damn_ it!

"Garudamon, hit them with everything!"

She nodded and commenced with a full barrage of attacks. A flaming fist to the face of the nearest enemy, a blade of air to slice across one side, and a twister of flame at the heart of where most of the enemies were gathered. And then... run. MetalGreymon followed up with a few missiles to keep them preoccupied while MegaKabuterimon landed in front of the gate and turned its back shell to the enemies to shield the children and Hunters making a break for it.

WereGarurumon was the only one left, caught in a duel against Phantomon. Scythe and claw, jumping, dodging, avoiding one attack to counter, only to be countered in turn. Neither of them were landing any direct blows, though neither of them managed to fully dodge, either. Phantomon's cape and robes were frayed along the edges where the wolf's claws had caught it and WereGarurumon had more than a few red marks across his arms and legs where he had been nicked by the enemy's scythe.

MegaKabuterimon turned back and fired an orb of lightning at Phantomon, catching him off guard and knocking him into a nearby structure. Noticing the rest of the battle wrapping up, WereGarurumon quickly caught the hint and rushed to the gate. Yamato was already well ahead of him, fleeing into the tunnel with Taichi and the rapidly devolving Agumon.

MegaKabuterimon devolved and ran in with Koushiro as WereGarurumon caught up went in ahead of them. An instant later the first gate to the tunnel came up, blocking it off. The group, both children and Hunters, continued to run as gate after gate came up behind them, closing off the tunnel section by section, after which the sections were flooded with more of the chaotic barrier energy to prevent anyone from trying to follow.

They didn't, of course... they knew better than to try to charge through the tunnels. It'd be smarter to attack the barrier itself, but with the Hunters now aware of their presence, they would have the barrier in that section at full power, making it too much of a hassle to try to puncture it. Besides... Myotismon hadn't ordered them to take that sector yet. No reason to waste their energy.

When the whole group emerged from the gate tunnel, they found the entire area around them quartered off for at least three city blocks. Nobody but Hunters in sight, far as they could see. Though, admittedly that wasn't far with it being so dark. No civilians... nobody to see they were working together. Figures.

Taichi caught the sound of two officers nearby talking, one inquiring about the number of losses, to which he promptly turned and drew his team away to locate the nearest computer to jump back to the digital world. They didn't need to hear that... this was a victory, no matter how it may have ended. He didn't need his friends hearing all the bad news and being dragged down by it.

Yamato would catch on quickly and usher everyone back to the digital world with him, particularly Sora, who was the only one who put up any sort of resistance. She wanted to stay and help the Hunters... somehow. Though she knew she couldn't, she couldn't shake the desire to protect, to aid... love _was_ her defining trait, after all.

In the end, however, she would follow. She had to. They couldn't stay there. They needed to return, regroup, and prepare for what came next... whatever that happened to be.

* * *

"Excellent performance. The operation was as successful as I might have hoped."

Koushiro narrowed his eyes. He'd had the suspicion that it was a mistake to accept the communication from Datamon. There were times when the little bastard's attitude was enough to make him want to stab his ears out with an icepick rather than listen to him. However, he also possibly had valuable intel for them, so they couldn't just ignore him. The things they did for the war...

"It wasn't a success. We made a huge miscalculation, got trapped... we barely got out of there _alive_."

"And yet you managed to survive nonetheless, exactly as I expected. Myotismon also suffered a massive blow to his network control, which ought to be pleasing to everyone."

Koushiro slapped his palm down on the floor beneath him, leaning in toward his computer camera at Datamon.

"People are _dead_. Our mistake cost Hunters their lives, there's nothing _pleasing_ about that."

"Do not misunderstand me, human. I do not care about you or your Hunter comrades. My only concern is Myotismon's destruction, and I have never pretended otherwise. Our alliance was made of convenience and the potential for mutual gain; I know you would not weep at the passing of myself or Etemon, so do not expect any differently from me."

Koushiro went silent and sat back. Fine. No sympathy... that was fair. When it was all over he'd be happy to see the little piece of slag get thrown into a furnace where he belonged, but until then they'd keep up their alliance, so long as there was... potential for mutual gain.

"Glad to see you're being rational. Now, I have something that you would undoubtedly be very interested in..."

"Another crest?"

Taichi stepped up from behind, moving away from the rest of the group that was sitting back. Though they could hear the entire conversation, none of them wanted to take part in it, for the same reasons Koushiro hadn't wanted to start it in the first place.

"Unfortunately, no. Though I wish I could offer such a valuable prize, as it would bring great harm to Myotismon. My information relates to your Hunter friends. As soon as the network went down, Myotismon's backup protocols became active, which left a momentary gap in his security, allowing me to pilfer a number of key files from his records."

"Do you know what he's planning?"

"Not entirely. However, I installed a virus that will in time provide me with additional access to the system and allow me to dig deeper... in the meantime, I located several files containing audio recordings of several transmissions between Myotismon's various generals and members of the Hunter command structure."

"Tran- wait... you mean there are people in the Hunters that are actually _negotiating_ with Myotismon?"

Koushiro was dumbstruck even as the rest of the team suddenly moved to gather around him. Could it be true? They couldn't simply assume that Datamon would always tell them the truth, but if it was, they also couldn't simply dismiss it offhand as a lie.

"Quite. Unfortunately, I do not have names, but there are several voices in the files I recovered, at least three separate individuals on the side of the Hunters. Two from Myotismon's ranks, only one of which I recognize, and which you just recently had an encounter with."

"_Phantomon._"

The name was like poison on his lips, though Koushiro knew there were others in the team that hated him far more. It seemed each of the team had their own personal vendettas to settle against the various invading forces. Perhaps it was just as well, though... every single vendetta was fully earned, from Etemon and Datamon to Phantomon and Myotismon... at least they knew they would never forget and fail to eliminate their most dangerous foes.

"Quite so. However, he was only present in a single conversation. All of the others were from a voice I could not identify. Not that it is particularly important. The figures of interest are the Hunters, obvious traitors to humanity, and obstacles to my long-term goals of seeing Myotismon destroyed. The conversations also provide some insight into Myotismon's long-term goals which your team should be aware of.

I am transferring several of the most pertinent files to you. I know you have at least one contact in the Hunter organization, likely more. Use them. Make sure these files reach the ears of someone fully trustworthy so that they might identify these voices for us to eliminate."

Even as Datamon began the file transfer, Koushiro glanced to Taichi. They had the same thought... no dice. They would get the names, but they wouldn't be given to Datamon.

"We will figure out who the Hunters are, but we're not passing the information on to you. We will deal with them _personally_."

"Oh please. Don't try to convince me that you flesh bags with your irrational compulsions and high susceptibility to emotional action could deal with this problem suitably. Without my intervention, you're as likely to cause a problem as to solve one."

"Trust me, Datamon, if you're right, and if there are traitors in the Hunters... we _will_ deal with the problem. But we'll do it _our_ way. Human problem, human solution."

He was silent for a few moments, likely measuring his options. Koushiro was stubbornly determined to hold his ground, and the rest of the team would support his decision. Convincing them to change their minds was likely impossible, so it was a waste to try.

"...very well. If it can be done, then see to it. Better that then to leave the problem _entirely_ unresolved. In the meantime, I will continue scouring Myotismon's records. If you require further aid, contact me. Otherwise, it would be best to maintain radio silence so as to not draw unnecessary attention to ourselves."

"Understood."

Koushiro cut off the transmission then, leaning back and sighing as he looked over to one side of his screen where it showed the received data. Five files fully received. Five conversations with members of the Hunters... for a moment he considered opening them, but instead he closed his laptop and glanced back to the other members of the team.

"We should settle in to rest and take care of our injured first. We'll need time to go over these, at any rate, and I think we're all a little too tired to do that now."

On the one hand, it seemed unnecessarily suspenseful, keeping them in the dark for now... but they knew he was right. Rest first, files later. Though they'd all constantly thinking about them until they were able to listen through them all, they could put that aside for a little while. It would also give Taichi a chance to figure out how to break this news to Hikari...

* * *

"_Hello at last, Mister Big Shot. And how are you on this **fine** day?"_

"Save it. I want to make this quick."

The group didn't recognize either of the voices. The digimon's voice carried a tone that reminded them of kind of conniving, treacherous form of scum they might imagine was part of Myotismon's armies. The man, on the other hand, was obviously military by his tone, but little else was clear from that. From the nickname he'd been given, most likely a man of rank, but that didn't really help them narrow anything down.

"_Oh... but why? I don't imagine a shorter conversation will help you forget that you're a traitor to everyone who put their trust in you."_

"I'm not happy with our arrangement, _monster_, but I do what is necessary to protect humanity."

"_Ah... well, I'm so **very** grateful you were willing to have this conversation, then."_

"Regarding the terms, I want to make sure we're clear on a few specifics... our front line troops are not going to alter their objective parameters in any way. They're going to keep fighting, just as they have been."

"_Yeah, yeah, we know. Phony war, put on a show... doesn't matter. The grunts taking the beating on our end are expendable. For now, all Lord Myotismon wants is to make sure that the blockade on the city stays up. Any civilians who want to leave the city have to use designated evac vehicles. Keep it at a trickle. If the floodgates open, the treaty is off."_

"I still don't fully understand why-"

"_And I'm not going to tell you. All you need to know is that if the people run away too fast, we'll knock down your pathetic barriers and raze the city to the ground. Clear?"_

"...understood. I'll begin instituting the protocols immediately."

"_Glad we understand each other. Have a **wonderful** day."_

The recording cut off and the group exchanged glances. That anyone in the Hunters would even make such a deal was... worrying to say the least. That they felt they had to meant things were apparently far worse for Odaiba than they had believed thus far.

Now they knew why Myotismon didn't simply flood through the city and take over... at least marginally. He was holding to a treaty... he wanted to keep people in as he took over slowly. But why?

"Starting the second recording..."

Koushrio muttered as he felt a general sense of dread befall the group. If that was the first recording, what did the others contain...

"_How may I help you, Commander...?"_

"The original terms of our treaty don't suffice anymore. It's becoming too difficult to fight our 'phony war.'"

That digimon... Phantomon. They recognized his voice instantly. As for the man, he was different than the first, but still not a voice any of them recognized.

"_I fail to see how this is my problem..."_

"The civilians that are still in the sectors you're holding are being used as shields against our forces. If we can't attack, we can't keep up the appearance of a war. Order will collapse, and this treaty will be useless to us. In those conditions, we will have no choice but to open the blockade and order a full, city-wide evacuation."

"_You understand what will happen if you do so..."_

"It doesn't matter. If we can't maintain order, we have nothing, so it's no loss for us."

"_I see... what then do you require...?"_

"A clear shot. Move your prisoners away from the front lines so our men can fight without worry."

"_I'm surprised that you do not request additional... **arrangements** for your captured civilians..."_

"I know where we stand. I'm not trying to push our demands too far. Only what is necessary."

"I see. I am glad to see we understand each other. I will ensure that your civilians are handled... suitably..."

Nobody had to look up to know the shared feelings of the group around them: Total and utter disgust. The Hunters didn't even _try_ to rescue the civilians, they were more concerned with keeping up appearances, and to hell with everyone else. Did they even _think_ about what Myotismon might be doing to those people? Did they even _care_?

They had gotten to the point where they had considered the Hunters their allies, but now... after hearing everything that had been happening behind the scenes, they seemed anything but. Not that the ground troops had any idea what was happening, but the commanders...

Dismissing those thoughts for now, Koushiro started the third recording, hoping to get through them as quickly as possible so they wouldn't have to keep dreading what horrors they would discover next.

"...hello. I've been told that my expertise was requested."

Yet another human voice, but that same digimon minion as before replying. Apparently he was Myotismon's mouthpiece to the Hunters. However, the fact that Phantomon spoke in matters regarding the military made it doubtful that this other minion was any sort of military general, so it remained unclear as to what role he held in Myotismon's army.

"_Expertise, my ass! How did the Hunters get a hold of crest duplicates? We found at least a dozen in the last sector we took!"_

A _what_?! A crest duplicate... the Hunters knew about the crests all this time? Not only that, but it meant that Myotismon had a crest in his possession _and_ that he was able to create copies of it. But why? Why would he want to create _more_ crests? Wasn't that the opposite of his goals?

"I... don't know. We-"

"_How can you not know? You're in charge of this crap! What, have all your minions been running pet projects without you knowing about it?"_

"During some of the fighting, our men obtained several of the crest duplicates you mentioned and brought them to R&D for study, but we never even _attempted_ to copy the technology, and after study they were all destroyed. The ability to reproduce them was brought in from the outside. We didn't even learn of it until we discovered that they were being produced by one of the other divisions for use."

"_Lord Myotismon wants all the Hunter copies destroyed! No exceptions! By the terms-"_

"We _can't_ destroy them all. They're already being used widely across the city. Removing them would alert someone to what's going on, and then we could have a panic, or worse... even insurrection. The terms of the treaty won't do you any good _then_."

"_Then get a handle on the situation and figure out where they all are! If you can't destroy them, fine... but if any of them become active, you report it to us immediately! Make sure your bosses know – you don't do this, the treaty is off, and Lord Myotismon will **personally** feast on their blood for this kind of betrayal."_

"I understand... I'll make sure it's clear."

The atmosphere shifted from dread to shock. But that was... that didn't make any sense. If the Hunters were this much in the know on matters involving the digidestined, and also in league with Myotismon, why did they order those last two operations as they did? Why were they making so many sacrifices to help the children? Were they a trump card... one that the Hunters hoped could win even without their direct assistance? Or was there more they had yet to learn?

To the final question, the answer was obvious... of course there was. Two more files worth of unknowns left to listen to. Koushiro started it wordlessly, holding his breath in anticipation for what would come next...

"_Lord Myotismon is displeased with you."_

"Tell me something I _don't_ know."

The human voice was familiar for once. It was the second they heard. The one who was speaking about military matters before... the commander, as he was called by Phantomon

"_Why wasn't the plan to raid that region reported in advance? And the children..."_

"We were never _told_. The operation happened completely off the books, ordered by someone in one of the special ops divisions. We were only informed after it was finished. We have never, and _will_ never authorize direct collaboration with the rogue children."

"_Then clearly you have a problem. If you can't maintain order in your ranks, **we** will have to do it for you."_

"That won't be necessary. We're already in the process of resolving this... issue with the chain of command."

"_Nevertheless, Lord Myotismon feels that in order to maintain good faith in our **arrangement**, a response must be given."_

"...what sort of response?"

"_Military, of course... retaliation. A raid is going to be made on the barriers surrounding that sector, and you're going to let it happen, otherwise... well, I don't think I need to go into details, do I?"_

"I... understand. I'll make arrangements to ensure minimal resistance. Just don't capture another sector so soon, or else we may not be able to maintain order-"

"_Yes, yes, I know. I've heard it all before. Don't worry, we won't do anything to 'destabilize your control.' This is just a little jab for a failure in communication. Just make sure it doesn't happen again."_

Didn't know? Everything that happened went right under their noses? Then their order to give their men a break... that was just an excuse – a cover story to hide the truth, that it left them vulnerable to a counterattack that they _knew_ would come. All those men who were dead or injured from that attack... Hunter command let it happen. Those lives were simply thrown away in order to maintain their deal with the devil.

Koushiro swallowed and started the final recording. Better to be finished sooner rather than later, though he dreaded what they would hear now more than ever...

"_Is there any progress with the search?"_

"None that we know of. It's difficult to track down a single individual in this entire city without resorting to methods that would arouse suspicion."

They were back to the original voice. Mister Big Shot, as he was dubbed by the digimon. He sounded different now, though... before he sounded as if he held up some form of resistance to their arrangement, but now... now it sounded as if he was practically taking orders from the digimon and, in turn, Myotismon.

"_Do any of the children know about the duplicate crests?"_

"No. We've been very careful to make sure they don't discover anything that could compromise our efforts."

"_Good. We don't need anyone finding out about a seventh rogue too soon. However, Lord Myotismon is getting impatient. With those kids acting up more, he wants that child found, and soon."_

"I don't know what else to do to speed up our efforts. Unless we intend to publicize our treaty, there isn't much more we _can_ do. Security is as tight as we can manage, but even so we've had no crest activations yet."

"_Maybe it's just bad handiwork and your duplicates are broken... but whatever. Figure something out. Lord Myotismon wants that child **found**. Until that happens, there's no negotiating for peace. And from the looks of the map, the front lines are getting a bit close to your headquarters for comfort, wouldn't you say?"_

"...very well. I'll take care of it, but I want your assurance that we will call a cease fire as soon as the child has been found."

"_Don't worry about that. Lord Myotismon is after the children, not your pathetic city. Once they're dealt with, I'm sure he'll have bigger fish to fry."_

Silence all around. This was beyond bad... beyond horrible. The entire war was doomed to failure right from the start. Everything they had done was good for little more than a nice show for the public, and now they had learned that Myotismon was after the seventh child... Hikari.

"What are the time stamps on those recordings?"

Taichi was unusually quiet and contemplative in spite of the news. Normally he was the first one to blow up. But this was different... his sister's life was on the line. He had to be smart, or there was no telling what might happen to her.

"They... they were in chronological order."

Koushiro went silent a moment. The mention of the raid... Hikari aided them with that. Yet the final message was one regarding the search for the child. That meant the Hunter commanders were being kept out of the loop about her. Somebody within the Hunters was bypassing their authority and running an entirely separate war from within their own walls...

Taichi grabbed his digivice and stood, only a moment later realizing that Hikari was likely fast asleep by now. Dammit... it would have to wait until morning, then. Even so, he knew what his course was going to be. He'd have to figure out some way to break the news to her, but after that... they had only one option. The crests would have to wait. Right now they had to act to stop the traitors from damning humanity to Myotismon's dominance.

"Got a plan, Taichi?"

Sora asked, though everyone else was obviously thinking the same thing. Of course... he always had a plan, didn't he? And this time it wasn't even a bad one. Nodding, he glanced first to her, then to the rest of the team.

"We have to contact Katsu."

Of course, that name wouldn't mean anything to them yet. Honestly, it didn't mean anything to _him_ either. All he knew was that Katsu was Hikari's superior. He knew who she was, what she was... he had to be a part of the war that was happening under the commanders' noses. That meant if they wanted to save Obaida from Myotismon and the Hunters, _he_ was their hope to do it.


	8. Rising Tide

A/N: Holy crap... this is the longest chapter thus far. Sorry for the delay, folks. This was a bit of an event to write... had to re-write it from scratch at least once. Also, I'd considered splitting this chapter in half at one point, but I felt like it would be too much of a cliffhanger, so in the end I opted to keep it as one. This extended the writing/editing time a bit as well. With it being a major turning point in the story, I wanted to make sure it was as close to perfect as possible. Hope it shows. ^_^

UBA: Can't really say much about Datamon's intentions... that one's a slimy little bugger, and his plans won't be coming fully to light for a while. As for your other recent questions, most of them should be answered in this chapter, so I'm just gonna let you read and find out for yourself.

Chapter 8: Rising Tide

**Desperation is the raw material of drastic change. Only those who can leave behind everything they have ever believed in can hope to escape.**

When the morning call came from her brother, Hikari had expected some simple update on what they had planned next. Perhaps more information on the crests or just a hello and a trivial conversation as they all breathed a sigh of relief after a tense and dangerous mission.

Nearly sixty men from the Devil's Arms teams were dead. The number of injured, not counting minor cuts and bruises, were only a fraction of that, a testimony to the sheer power of the perfect-level digimon. There were few recorded injuries from such fights because the enemy attacks were almost always fatal. Most of those that _were_ injured received their wounds from shrapnel coming off their destroyed vehicles rather than the enemy attacks themselves.

It was a grim business, and it seemed to grow more grim every day. For Hikari, the weight of it all was that much greater because of the silent knowledge that she was indirectly responsible for it. Her joining the Hunters had caused the rapid formation of a makeshift alliance between them and the digidestined. That meant more progress in the war, but it also meant more danger, more retaliation, and the general escalation of the entire conflict.

For her, every day was becoming a fight in itself. For every good thing that happened, there was a negative consequence. It was that much worse that she wasn't even surprised to hear the death count from the last mission. She was already becoming accustomed to hearing news of more deaths on the front lines. She only endured it because of those dim beacons of light that fell between the dark moments. The chances to remember what it was like to be a normal girl, when her every waking minute didn't involve training and working to help save humanity in an increasingly grim war.

This time, her hopes were shot down. The news her brother brought utterly extinguished any semblance of hope that their recent victories seemed to give.

His words were followed by the recordings themselves. These were easier for her to listen to because they gave her something to focus on objectively. Intel... maybe she could pick out something from the recordings that the others didn't because of her familiarity with the Hunters.

As it so happened, she did, though it only seemed to make the situation that much worse.

"I recognize the third voice. That's the lead of R&D here at the Hunter base."

"We suspected as much. All the Hunters seem to be of high rank. Do you know anything about this man?"

As always, Koushiro took the lead when it came to the technical matters. Besides, leader or not, Taichi wasn't likely to be the most objective person right now anyway.

"Only that he was there when I got my digivice."

Silence. They all knew what that meant. If he was there, he knew that she was one of them, which meant the Hunter search for the seventh rogue...

"Hikari, you have to get out of there. _Now_."

Surprisingly, it was Yamato that was making that suggestion, not Taichi. Not that she couldn't understand why. They had lost one of their comrades before, but Yamato had lost more than simply a friend. He felt it far more than any of the others.

"...no. I can't."

"Hikari, this isn't a time for idiotic bravery."

Idiotic bravery... was that the same thing they once told Takeru?

"It isn't idiotic. I still have a job to do. The Hunters still need my help-"

"The Hunters are traitors that want to turn you over to Myotismon!"

"Not _all_ of them. Not your father."

That was enough to silence Yamato, at least for a moment.

"And not Katsu either, right?"

Taichi spoke up, immediately taking Yamato's place. Of all people, he seemed the least likely to support Hikari's decision to stay there with the Hunters, in the very eye of the storm, surrounded by people who might potentially want to capture her... however, he also remembered their loss, and more importantly, he remembered _why_ it happened.

"No... not Katsu. I know he'd never make a deal with Myotismon."

"Can we assume he is the one mentioned in the recordings who has repeatedly broken the chain of command?"

Koushiro cut in, no doubt meticulously recording everything, trying to formulate some plan so as to give them a sense of stability in moving forward.

"Almost definitely. Unless there's more than one."

"Wouldn't that be nice... do you trust him?"

Hikari paused, unsure for a moment of how to answer her brother. Trust Katsu? Trust the boy who hid everything about himself? The boy who was the biggest schemer and manipulator in the whole of the Digimon Hunters? The boy who seemed to be the living embodiment of war, and was haunted by emotional pain that was difficult for her to even imagine? How _could_ she trust someone like that?

Yet, there was another side to it all. His character, his devotion to what was right... he let nothing deter him, and he seemed to live for nothing except victory. While she could scarcely trust a word he said, she never once doubted that he did everything for the ultimate goal of triumphing in the war, even if it meant working against his own allies.

"Yes. I trust him completely."

"Then he has to know about this."

"I know... which is why I'm going to tell him. But I'll need those files first. He'll want a copy."

"The digivices aren't designed to play back files of this format, but they can be used as a data transfer conduit if you have a system that can receive it."

Koushiro immediately began walking Hikari through the steps of transferring the data through their digivices to her laptop, a relatively simple process once one ignored all of physics and the assumptions that data needed a medium by which to be sent.

Due to the risks to security, the Hunters almost never used wireless networks, so civilians in Odaiba had been forced to stop using them as well. So, theoretically, sending the data through the air directly from her digivice to her computer should have been impossible. Fortunately, the digital universe didn't seem to care much for those pesky laws of physics.

"Do you have a plan once you get the files to Katsu?"

"No, but _he_ will."

Hikari replied idly while moving the files from her computer to a portable thumb drive. It went without question now that Katsu always had a response to everything. What that response would be was always a mystery, for she knew she had only scratched the surface of his paranoia. However, that was also reassuring in a way... if she was in the know as his second-in-command and still knew so little, it meant that the others on the outside knew even less.

"Call us if anything goes wrong. We'll figure out some way to back you up."

"Got it... thanks, brother."

Despite her words, Hikari knew that the promise was hollow, even if they didn't. She was in the middle of the Hunter base, the headquarters of Odaiba. They weren't going to be able to get to her in time if something happened here. She would keep her concerns silent, however. No reason to deprive her friends of their hope.

* * *

When Hikari arrived in the command room, everything was normal enough. Just another day in the war... everyone was completely, blissfully ignorant of what was happening beneath the surface.

Katsu stood at the command table, as always. The switch to the electronic map meant he had to leave even less than normal. Now he could receive reports directly on the map without having to go to another console, which he seemed to prefer. Hikari moved immediately to his side, ignoring her console and her normal duties for the morning. A brief glance her way would show that he noticed, but he didn't pay much attention to her until she actually spoke.

"Sir, I need to speak to you in private."

She'd receive a brief, questioning glance, as that was a request she rarely ever made. That and the fact that she was speaking in a low tone to avoid being overheard made it clear that this was well out of range of normal, daily issues and duties, but it still wasn't enough to fully draw his attention away from whatever plans were rolling through his mind.

"Give me a minute."

"No."

He froze, his gaze locking on hers again, questioning if she was really about to risk insubordination, especially toward _him_. Fortunately, she already had a suitable answer to that... the Hunters had made room in their rules for things like this.

"Hunter command protocol. As your second-in-command, you're required to immediately recognize and respond to any matters I bring to your attention that I consider to be of significant enough strategic importance that they cannot be delayed."

She had far from memorized all of the Hunter protocols, but that was one she made certain to lock down in her memory the moment she read it. Good for emergencies, and it was something Katsu had to acknowledge, at least officially. She had figured it would come in handy, and she was right.

Katsu fully stood and turned to face her then. She'd half-expected some sort of anger in his eyes, but it was thankfully absent. Maybe she was considered reliable enough that he trusted her judgment? She could hope...

"What matters are these?"

Hikari took a breath and glanced around. Nobody close enough to overhear... though she still didn't like talking about this in the main command room. But fine... have it your way, 'boss.' She quickly grabbed the thumb drive from her pocket and held it up, trying not to look too overt so as to not draw attention from anyone else in the room.

"The rogues sent me five files they received from Datamon that he hacked from Myotismon's network. They're all audio recordings of conversations between somebody working for Myotismon and... Hunter officers."

It wouldn't even be a second after she said the final words that he grabbed the drive and headed to the back of the room. Though he had a personal office, it was rarely used during normal hours as he seemed to prefer being in the middle of the action during any important operations. Still, he'd kept it because it was useful at times such as these, when being surrounded by prying ears was unwelcome.

The first thing Katsu would do when he stepped into his office would be to unplug his computer from the rest of the network, isolating it from any form of surveillance. As he plugged in the drive and began to load up the files, a call would come on his office phone, which he would promptly switch to speaker and continue doing as he was without pause.

"Sir, we just received a call from system security. They report that your personal computer just dropped off the network."

"Yes. I just unplugged it."

"Umm... may I ask why?"

"No, you may not. Tell security that it'll be back on the network in a few minutes."

Hikari let out a heavy sigh. She'd hoped to avoid attention as much as possible, not set off a red light with the people running network security.

After a few moments, however, that wouldn't even matter. As soon as the recordings started, she could see everything on Katsu's face change. He recognized at least one of those voices for certain, but she dare not ask which. As the recordings proceeded, one after another, she expected to see some hint of anger on his features... some kind of aggression to hint that he intended some form of harsh retaliation against the people responsible for this. That would have been more comforting...

Instead, she saw nothing. No deep planning, no masking his emotions. He was simply blank. It would be almost a full minute before Hikari would finally snap him back to attention by speaking.

"Sir... what do we do now?"

His eyes met hers a moment before drifting back down to the table, returning to a half-blank stare once again. For a moment she was worried that he may not reply at all, but eventually the words would form. Albeit not the words she was hoping to hear...

"...I don't know."

Silence again. Think, Hikari... you're 'reliable,' right? You're smart, competent... what would a smart second-in-command do now?

"I'm going to call Masaharu and set up a meeting. He needs to know about this too."

Another pause, then Katsu would nod slowly, dismissing her with a wave of his hand before turning his attention back to his computer. Returning to the main room, Hikari would go to the command table and make the call. She didn't explain much, simply said that she and Katsu were coming up to his office and needed to speak to him in private.

He would question why it was her calling for the meeting and not Katsu, but he quickly dismissed the question. He would learn the answer soon enough, no doubt... or not at all. It all depended on whether or not his adviser wanted him to know...

* * *

The silence that hung between the trio was starting to become quite familiar to Hikari by now. It seemed like the common response for everyone who heard those recordings. They were each at a loss for what to do next. Everything they'd built their war efforts on thus far had just come apart. All that remained was the rogues, but they couldn't win the war alone. Defeat Myotismon, perhaps... but at what cost? Without the Hunters to protect it, there would be nothing left of Odaiba when all was said and done.

Finally, Masaharu would pick up his phone and make a call to R&D, requesting that the team leader come up to his office immediately. No explanation was offered, and once the order was received he would simply hang up.

Hikari would briefly wonder why he would want to speak with someone they all knew to be a traitor, but her confusion would be answered as soon as she saw the gun he removed from one of his desk drawers. Not Hunter tech... that was a standard, military-issue firearm, to be used against humans, not digimon.

"We know the head of R&D knows you're one of the rogues, but the others said they were still searching for you. That means either they're lying or he hasn't told the rest of them. We're going to figure out which."

Hikari could feel her heart pounding in her chest at the thought of what was coming. Hearing the reports of soldiers dying was one thing, but actually pulling the trigger, or even being there with a man who did... that was a completely different.

"Are you actually going to _kill_ him?"

"Only if I have to."

Masaharu's expression wasn't one of military discipline then, but of quiet reservation. Murder was murder, no way around that. But if it was the only way to save them all from Myotismon, then he'd bear that guilt to do what was needed.

When the man arrived, Hikari would stand from her seat in front of the desk, offering her seat to him as she moved to stand by one wall. Katsu simultaneously moved to the door to lock it behind him so that he couldn't try to make an escape. Fortunately, the team lead didn't seem to notice either of these actions, or at the very least, didn't think of them as unusual.

"You wanted to see me, sir?"

"Yes, I need your input on something."

With the push of a button, Masaharu would start the third recording, the same one that had the other man's voice. It would be only a moment before realization would flash across his features, but Masaharu would have his gun raised from behind his desk and aimed squarely at the man before he could even attempt to make a run for it.

"Don't. We have proof that you're a traitor. There's nothing stopping me from killing you right here."

The man took a deep, unsteady breath, fingers tightening around the arms of his chair. To say he was nervous was a massive understatement. He wasn't military, he was a civilian scientist. Staring down the barrel of a gun was far outside of his range of training or experience.

"Hunter Command would-"

"I _know_ about the others in Hunter Command..."

Masaharu promptly cut off the recording and switched to another, the final recording. The man simply stared at the desk and listened, having never heard that conversation before then. Though oddly, he didn't seem to become more nervous from it as Hikari expected.

"We have other recordings. We know about the treaty, and we have the voices of you, the Director, and one of my fellow commanders all on file as conspiring with Myotismon."

The man took another deep breath and nodded slowly as his expression shifted from fear to an almost calm acceptance.

"So... are you going to kill me then?"

"I know I _should_. Hell, I've half a mind to shoot _all_ of you, but I don't know how many other conspirators are part of this and I don't want to throw away the entire Hunter organization because of a few idiots. You're here because I want to know what this last recording is really all about."

"Wasn't it obvious?"

The man seemed completely calm now, even staring down the gun without fear. Not because of any confidence that he would live... more that he had come to terms that he was going to die, and perhaps that it was a fate well-earned.

"They're searching for... her."

He motioned to Hikari with his last word, causing the girl to tense up significantly. She already knew that she was the target, but being made the center of attention still made her undeniably nervous. Even with Masaharu holding the gun on the man, the simple knowledge that they knew was enough to set her mind at work imagining all manner of terrible things that might happen...

"Obviously. Only problem is, _you_ know who she is, and you're working with them. I don't need to explain the issue here."

The man took a long, deep breath, almost as if he was gathering the energy to continue the conversation. Apparently he had anticipated his death too soon. It seemed Masaharu wasn't going to be as quick to the trigger as he expected.

"You're wondering why I never told them."

"I never assumed you _didn't_."

The man barked out a dry, mirthless laugh at Masaharu's words. To Hikari, he seemed unusually bold to laugh at a man who was holding him at gunpoint. However, to him the apparent inevitability of his death was almost liberating... nothing left to be afraid of. No reason to hide the truth or worry about the consequences. When that trigger is pulled, none of those worries will matter anymore.

"They wouldn't lie to Myotismon. They're all too desperate to cling to the hope that their damned, stupid treaty is going to save them and this city. They'll do whatever it takes to make him happy so they can call for a cease fire, even if that cease fire is the same as surrender."

"If you know this, then _why_-"

"They never gave me a _choice_. I only learned about the treaty right before that recording you have of me, and I was ordered to report everything I knew about the crest duplicates. It I didn't, I'd be arrested or shot. What would _you_ have done?"

Masaharu went quiet. He couldn't fault the man for trying to make the sensible choice. If the others were already betraying humanity, standing up to them in his current position would only serve to make him a pointless victim of the conspiracy.

"I couldn't do anything. The only hope I had was that this paranoid kid could somehow manage to outwit command and find the seventh rogue first. When he did, I sure as hell wasn't going to report it. I'm smart enough to know how much we need those kids."

"So they're still ignorant, then? They know nothing about Hikari?"

"Not _yet_. But with all you've been doing, I figure it's only a matter of time."

"They won't find her."

All eyes turned to Katsu as he finally spoke up, causing Masaharu to lower his gun for a moment. The uncertainty that had taken hold of the boy before seemed to have faded and he was once more as focused and intent as they were used to, albeit a bit more cautious.

"With all the crest duplicates they have in circulation, how long do you think it'll be before-"

"Those copies don't work."

Stunned silence filled the room a moment and Hikari found herself calmed again. Good... this was the way things were supposed to be. Seeing Katsu uncertain and grasping for solutions unnerved her to no end.

"Ninty-five percent of all the duplicates we produced were made to be inert. The only functional ones are in the hands people I trust, and I don't trust bureaucrats. I knew if they found her first then it would cause problems. Though I didn't realize how many..."

Hikari paused as she thought back to the time just before her arrival at Hunter base. The day of the evacuation from her sector... it wasn't random at all. It was... of course, it was another clever lie.

"It wasn't the DG sensors that were tripped when we drove through the tunnel, it was one of the copies."

She commented idly, noting Katsu's prompt nod. Clever little... so their first meeting was an act from start to finish – a show to make it look like a series of random events playing together in his favor, when in fact he engineered it all from the start. Even the miracle that he found her first was engineered from the simple fact that none of the others _could_ find her.

The R&D leader relaxed back into his chair a bit, causing Masaharu to lower his gun. This man clearly wasn't their enemy, at least not by choice. In fact, his dedication to help them even when he had no idea what they were doing was quite admirable.

"So that's it, then... you've covered all your bases. We're safe."

It was a pleasant thought, to think that maybe they actually won one over their enemies and had managed to outwit the conspirators from their general paranoia alone, without ever knowing about the plot. Unfortunately, Masaharu knew that couldn't be entirely true.

"Not quite. With all the collaborative work we've done with the rogues, command likely suspects something. Now, with Myotismon's network hub going down, he's going to send them after us – all of SDZ. We won't be able to keep her hidden here for long."

Hikari tensed up again, feeling the pressure of events rising against her again. The danger was bad enough for all the honest Hunters and the humans in Odaiba, but it was far worse for her, in the eye of the storm. It was the same whether it was her friends in danger or herself... either way, it was somebody else sacrificing themselves to protect her.

She hated it. Every single part of this stupid war, her absolute helplessness... strategy and tactics meant nothing in the end without the power to use them right, and she had nothing of the sort. No digimon partner, no way to fight directly. Being in the front lines may have been hellish, but being forced to do nothing while everyone around you took to the front lines in your stead was infinitely worse.

"So... what happens now?"

As the man spoke, Masaharu finally unloaded the gun and slipped it back into the drawer he had drawn it from. Then he would stand, moving around to one side of his desk to look down on the man where he sat.

"Go back to R&D and say nothing about this. I'm not going to kill you – it's obvious you're not our enemy – and what happens next will happen regardless of whether or not you participate. What _you_ do after this is up to you, all I can say is that the less you know about what we're planning, the better off you'll be."

The man slowly nodded before heading toward the door, leaving the trio alone again. As soon as he was gone, Katsu began to pace the room, clearly anxious as his mind worked through the problem again and again. Once again Hikari was unnerved, seeing him uncertain and unprepared rather than as the boy she had come to know these few weeks.

Masaharu would let him pace the length of the room a full three times before he would finally interrupt. He was normally keen to let the boy think as long as he needed, but this time was a special exception, firstly because they had no time, but more so because he knew what it was that was making Katsu so anxious...

"You _know_ what we have to do."

"No. There's another way. I just have to figure it out."

Katsu's pacing increased, though his form never once left Masaharu's gaze. Hikari could see something happening... something was changing in Katsu, and it wasn't something she wanted to see. It felt like she was watching him break before her eyes, and with every word spoken by him or Masaharu it only grew worse.

"Even if there were, we have twelve hours at _most_ before Command responds. There's no time to mull over this."

"Then we have to kill Hunter Command. All of them. Wipe the slate clean and take direct control."

Hikari's eyes went wide in pure, abject horror. Katsu was honestly considering murdering the entire chain of command? They didn't even know how many of them were a part of this! She knew he was dangerous and willing to go to great lengths to achieve his goals, but this...

"That won't help and you know it. The treaty is holding Myotismon at bay. Without it, we're all dead. Death by the Hunters or death by the invaders, unless you initiate SP-7."

"Then we go to Command, convince them to lie. We just need time. A few days, a week... as much as we can muster. We're too close..."

"Even if we got the time you wanted, we have no assurance it'll be enough. We have no promises, no timetables, all we have is blind faith and hope, and that's not enough to risk the lives of all of SDZ on! You _have_ to initiate SP-7!"

Before Hikari would even have a chance to react, Katsu would grab the chair the R&D lead had been sitting in and throw it across the room to slam into the wall beside the door. The crash would echo through all the nearby halls, leaving a large dent in the wall in the process.

"**NO!** We didn't come all this way just so we could **throw it away!**"

Hikari had stumbled back, moving behind Masaharu so as to have some sort of shield in case of another outburst. She'd never seen Katsu like this... never even imagined he could get so enraged. Now she had absolutely no idea what he was going to do next, or if she or Masaharu were safe at all.

A moment later a man from the hall, apparently a guard, rushed into the room, reacting to the sound of the impact.

"Sir, what happened? Is-"

"Get out."

The man froze at the sight and sound of Katsu, only then noticing the chair on the floor and the large dent in the wall. His eyes jumped to Masaharu then, clearly desperate for some kind of answer that he wouldn't receive.

"...sir?"

"Leave. The room. **Now**."

The man's eyes shifted to Katsu as he spoke, the tone of his voice enough to terrify even a full grown man, reputation or not. That wasn't a child speaking... he had murder in his voice. He had an anger so deep that it was scarcely possible to imagine that a child could harbor such an emotion inside himself.

Masaharu would nod and then the man would rush out of the room quickly, eager to use whatever chance he had to get away without having to defy protocol. If Masaharu hadn't given him permission to leave, he would have been forced to confront Katsu, and in that moment he would have rather gone with the jail option than face... _that_.

Once the door was closed and they were alone again, Katsu would turn back to Masaharu and Hikari. His voice was shaky, the pent up anger now mixing with grief as he felt the war beginning to slip through his fingers.

"The rogues just obtained their fourth crest... they have help from Datamon, they could be _well_ on their way to the fifth soon. The labs, all the data we've been feeding them... the digimon, the DA weapons, everything. They _all_ agree, they're on the verge of a breakthrough – a new _generation_ of Hunter weapons, we could have them ready for mass production in less than a _month_. We are on the verge... we... we are _literally_ on the verge of turning the tide of this war."

Katsu was breaking. The strain of this was beyond what even he could bear. Every plot, every plan, every goal... it was all coming apart now, when he was at the edge, nearly holding them in his grasp. Reaching up, he ran his hands through his hair, fingers curving almost like claws, very nearly ripping his hair out.

"We are so... SO close... too close... we can't... not now. We _have_ to find a way. It's not... there's too much..."

Tears welled in his eyes. Voices screamed in his mind. Voices of dying soldiers, of orphaned children... of promises and love and hate and justice and vengeance... faces of both friends and enemies, of the loved and the lost...

Now he clutched his head with his arms over his ears, as if to block out the voices even though he knew it would be to no avail.

It was dark. Too many voices, too many deaths. It surrounded her, enveloped her all over again. She could hear them... the voices, the memories, like inaudible echoes in the back of her mind, yet they screamed with emotion that she could not even describe. Too much... it's too much... please, stop. Please... don't... don't make me hear this...

"Three years... a _thousand_ days, a thousand nights... a thousand sunsets I've watched... red, like the world was _bleeding_. It never goes away... I can always feel it there... hate. The world is screaming in my ears, the _dead_ are screaming... hate. Revenge. They were... _sacrificed_... they were _all_ sacrificed..."

Katsu's fists suddenly slammed down on the desk and Hikari felt her knees buckle under her again. It was the same as before... the same darkness, the same empty void, like a hungry hole in her heart that kept devouring. Hungry for blood, hungry for vengeance... impossible to satiate.

"_THEY DIDN'T DIE FOR **NOTHING!**"_

Even through the blur of his tears Katsu could see Masaharu, looking down at him with ice-cold eyes that refused to show even a shred of what they were feeling. Even though he wanted to let himself break, the same as Katsu, he couldn't... this was the lives of everyone in SDZ in his hands. Perhaps the lives of all of Odaiba, of Japan... maybe even the entire world. Even if it killed him, he wouldn't give in. Better _his_ life than all those that depended on him.

"No. They didn't. But if we make a stupid decision and die here, they _will_ have."

Masaharu knew he would likely forever hate himself for the words he spoke then. Necessary or not, to turn the guilt and the pain back on Katsu and to use it against him... it was a deplorable action. One he would have plenty of time to regret, assuming he lived to the end of the war.

Katsu's eyes would close, tears running off his face before he promptly wiped them clear. The pain, the voices... the darkness... in a moment it was all gone, forced to the deepest recesses of his mind, if only for a moment. But a moment was all he needed.

"I'll give the order..."

The order he would forever hate, yet that he knew he needed to give. He had always known, just as Masaharu said... that was why he fought it so hard. Because there was no way out, no second option, no freedom. He was bound like a slave to the cruel fate of this war, forced to dance on the strings he was held by. If he fought, the strings would simply be cut, and then he would fall and have nothing left to fight with.

There was only one way out. One horrible, deplorable way, and he had to choose it... even knowing it was right would bring no satisfaction, yet he _had_ to choose it, or else everything, from the end to... the beginning... would be meaningless.

As soon as he turned to leave, putting behind him all thought and care for Masaharu and Hikari, then the older man would turn sharply and kneel down at the girl's side, scooping her up in his arms like a father for his daughter, and she clung to him likewise. The tears were still there... though she hadn't fallen completely into the darkness this time... though she remained in the waking world, even when the darkness had receded she still felt the pain, like a lingering ache from a long-held scar that refused to heal.

"What... did you do...?"

Hikari barely coughed out her words, struggling to catch a breath after... whatever that was. It was impossible to truly describe it, even as it lingered in her mind.

"I saved us. Everyone... or... _almost_ everyone."

Hikari needed no explanation to know what he meant. One who was perhaps beyond any form of salvation...

"Who... what... is _Katsu_?"

The tears began to form then, though he would refuse to let himself cry them. He reserved his tears for the dead... he spent his _blood_ for the living.

"He's nobody. There is no Katsu Fang, and there never was. It's just a name. The name of a boy that doesn't exist. No mother, no father, no siblings... and no past. It's the face of a boy who threw himself away and became something else... so that he could serve the sole purpose of killing, devoid of any sort of emotion or memory."

Hikari shook her head violently, clutching tighter to the man's uniform.

"He's not... it... it's there... he feels... he never... stops... feeling. It's always there... I felt it... it's always there... it..."

She reached down to grasp at her chest, feeling it there like a knife in her heart, as much literal as metaphorical. The pain wasn't just a feeling... it was real. She couldn't even bring herself to touch the place at her heart without recoiling.

"He's dying... his _heart_ is dying. He's killing himself... but it... it doesn't stop the pain. It just makes it worse..."

He moved to sit at his desk, still holding her tight in his lap in hopes of bringing her some meager form of comfort at the embrace.

"I know... I've always known. I tried to save him, but I can't... all I can do is help him kill."

Hikari took a shaky breath, tears streaming from her eyes as she struggled in vain to hold in the sea of pain that she felt, an echo of what had come from _him_.

"Who was he... who... who am _I_? Why can I..."

"I don't know. He... he was the same as he is now. He was the one thing in this world that the darkness couldn't destroy, couldn't keep down... even when it killed him and created Katsu. And you... you're Hikari. Light. _The_ light..."

Masaharu would reach down to his desk then, into one of the drawers to draw out a small object that he could then place in Hikari's lap. For a moment she wondered, but from its glow she quickly figured out what it was. One of the duplicates... a crest. _Her_ crest...

"The Crest of Light."

Masaharu finished her thoughts for her and Hikari suddenly grasped the crest tight in one hand, pressing it hard against her chest. Light... she felt now like a dying light in a world of darkness. Katsu... whoever he was, whoever he used to be... Masaharu said he was the one thing the darkness couldn't destroy, and yet, for it to make him into what he had become... if that was _his_ fate, what hope was there for _her_?

Tears rushed forth again, and this time she made no attempt to stop them. She wasn't crying for herself... not out of fear or despair or some worry for what her fate might hold. She was crying for _him_. The nameless boy who she had never known, and never would. The boy who had died and left the weapon known as Katsu in his wake...

* * *

SP-7. Special Protocol Seven. One of a series of ten SDZ emergency orders set up by Katsu to handle the highest level emergency situations. Catastrophic barrier failure, total collapse of network security, the assassination of the entire Command branch... the worst of the worst possibilities.

Protocol seven dealt with the matter of betrayal from within the Hunter ranks. If Hunter Command were ever to be compromised, he had a system in place for salvaging the situation. In simple terms, it was the death of SDZ. The complete dismantling and dissolution of the entire division. Every officer, every soldier, every file and valuable piece of equipment they could salvage. They were to be immediately packed up and taken away to a number of secure sites around the city to be hidden away, off the radar.

By the time anyone realized that the official order to reorganize the division, allegedly sent from Command, actually came from _within_ the division, it would be too late. Everybody would already be long gone and impossible to trace thanks to a few bugs in the network that conveniently appeared at just the right time to be a nuisance to the Hunter system security.

Even before then, however, Hikari would be long gone...

After her complete breakdown, she would eventually have regained enough stability to compose a short letter to her parents which she would leave with Masaharu. Then she would return to Katsu at his office for her final orders. No personal words were exchanged, yet it was clear in his eyes that he understood, and that she understood as well... somehow, by some twist of fate, she had been gifted and cursed with the power to feel the pain of others. First the pain of her comrades through their digivices, and now of Katsu... she understood him in a way that perhaps nobody else ever would or could.

When she acknowledged her final order, he would stand to do something she had never seen before... he would salute her. The first person she'd ever known him to salute, and she wouldn't have been surprised if she was the _only_ one to receive that honor in all his time with the Hunters.

"Hikari Yagami, thank you for the honor of having you serve with us."

Her brain told her the rational thing to do was to salute back, but her instincts quickly tossed that idea away somewhere into the back of her mind and took what she felt to be a far more rational course. Stepping forward, around his desk, she grabbed and hugged him. Screw protocol... she wasn't really a Hunter in the end. She was a rogue, a child, and a girl. And if this was truly the end of her time with the Hunters, she wasn't bound to their rules, so she could do what she wanted.

"Thank _you_... for caring."

She knew of no other way to describe it in a positive light... for though the pain he felt was immense, it wasn't a pain that could be known by anyone who didn't care. On the contrary, it was more likely the pain of one who cared _too_ much.

And with that she would release him, promptly turning to walk away. As she stepped out of the door and into the command room where the officers were already at work saving backups of all their vital files and wiping everything else... her mind told her she would be back here one day. Perhaps not this place, but this group. They were breaking apart, yes, hiding themselves to survive... but they _were_ surviving. Surviving as a scattered resistance force, and one day they would be reunited to when they were strong enough to confront Myotismon and the traitors directly.

However, her heart told her something different. This was another ending in her life, and when she walked out those doors... she would never see Katsu again. His words, his salute... those were the last things she would ever remember of him. Even if she ever did return... to this city, to this division... she knew Katsu Fang would be gone.

* * *

Hikari made it three blocks from the Hunter base, carrying only a backpack, before she would stop at a small restaurant. Though they asked if she wanted a table, she would decline, instead simply asking for the bathroom.

Once there, she would quickly strip down and change into a new set of clothes from her. Boy clothes, so they didn't quite fit right, but at least she was sure they had no tracking devices on them... after all, they were Katsu's. If he couldn't keep his clothes spy-free, nobody could.

Stepping out, she returned to the counter, flashing her Hunter ID to the clerk. This restaurant had been hand-picked by Katsu for two reasons. One, it was on the way to her main destination, and two, they had a large fireplace for keeping the place warm in winter.

"Special Hunter order. Light the fireplace. I need you to dispose of this backpack and all its contents. Also, I need a set of silverware."

The woman at the counter had no idea what was happening, but she said nothing to protest. She would quickly gather up the bag and all the things in it even as Hikari stuffed the ID in with the rest of the items. When the silverware was brought out, Hikari would remove her only remaining possession that was native to the human world, her cellphone. In a moment she had the back of the phone pried open to remove the SIM card, then she promptly took the back end of the silverware and smashed the card to pieces to make sure it couldn't be traced back to her.

"Dispose of all this, and tell nobody about this meeting. Understood?"

A sharp nod was all she needed and then she was running out the door, back down the street toward her destination. All she had now was a pair of boy's clothes, her digivice, and two thumb drives in her pocket... if she needed anything else, she would get it at her destination – the digital world.

The hard part was getting there, as Katsu couldn't afford to risk having anyone find out about his secret contact. Ken had a method for hacking the Hunter network without being discovered, which gave Hikari a means of opening a gate to the digital world. All she had to do was get to him in one piece.

She continued down the street several blocks, occasionally glancing about for any sign that she was being followed or watched. So far nothing... good. Not that she expected anything yet. The real risk was passing through the barrier. Ken's home was in the next sector, which meant she would have to take one of the tunnels, and those were under constant watch by Hunters.

About twenty minutes of walking and the tunnel came into view, at which time she would stop at the next intersection, simply waiting and watching the street for a few minutes, looking for something... something like... _that_.

Small car, two people inside. Man and woman, older... likely husband and wife. As they stopped at the intersection, she would step up and knock lightly on the window. They were a bit surprised to see the oddly-dressed girl wanting to talk to them, but they rolled down the window anyway.

"Excuse me, are you taking the tunnel to the next sector?"

"Umm... yes, we were. Is there something wrong?"

"Oh, no... it's just, I was going to that sector but I don't have a ride, so I'd have to walk the whole tunnel... I was wondering, if it wasn't too much trouble... could I ride with you for a few minutes? Just until we get to the other side."

"Oh! Well... sure. I don't see why not."

Hikari gave her picture-perfect smile, feeling a little guilty on the off chance that she got this couple into trouble, but she really needed to get moving, and it didn't seem like anyone was looking for her yet, so they shouldn't be in _too_ much danger.

Thankfully, the ride was uneventful. Currently security was a bit more lax, and why wouldn't it be? They weren't actually searching for digimon spies, they were searching for a rogue. Checking all the IDs wouldn't help much with that...

Upon coming out the other side, however, she noticed something behind them... an unmarked, dark blue vehicle that seemed to be following them. It didn't _look_ like a Hunter vehicle or driver, but... better safe than sorry.

As they stopped at another intersection, Hikari would let herself out, saying she needed to turn off that road that they were taking straight. A perfect actress, they wouldn't suspect anything. Once they were off, along with the car that was following them, she would continue straight down the street, though her eyes would be a bit more keenly focused on her surroundings now, searching for that same car in case it came back around, or another that might try to follow her.

Just to be safe, she moved off the main road to one of the side streets. Fewer people and vehicles to watch there, and- wait... dark blue.

She made a sharp turn and headed away from the street, between two large buildings. Though she would enter the alleyway walking, she would come out the far side running. She'd cross another street glancing aside only a moment to notice... there. The blue car. It was several buildings down, but it was still following her.

This time she doubled back from the alley and ran down the street as fast as she could, hoping to cut past the car before it could turn around and spot her. To her fortune, it was nowhere in sight when she passed that cross-street. Unfortunately, it seemed it wasn't alone, either...

Ahead of her, a large Hunter jeep was approaching. She could either turn away or gamble that they weren't there for her... yeah, right. She doubled back again, this time following in the direction the blue car had gone. It took her in the direction of an apartment complex... too bad it wasn't the one where Ken lived. Still, as she noticed a second military jeep coming down the next street, the apartment complex was starting to look like a nice option...

"Hikari Yagami!"

A voice sounded from another source... a third jeep, from the other way. Damn it! Now she didn't have much choice but to go forward. Yet it wouldn't be long before, predictably, the last direction on the intersection had a vehicle on it as well.

"Don't attempt to run! We've been authorized to use lethal force if necessary!"

Hikari froze in place, turning sharply back to face the voice with a face of pure indignation. Really? Hunting a _child_ with lethal force? An unarmed child, no less, and somehow they thought this made sense?

"Do you even know _why_ you're after me? Do you have ANY idea what you're even _doing_?!"

The man's expression showed he was uncertain, but still determined to follow through on his duty.

"I'm simply doing what I have to, to win this war."

Like hell... if Katsu hadn't ordered her to be silent about the betrayal, she would have told them right there... but she knew they couldn't be trusted to act sensibly if they found out the truth. Heck, they knew _this_ was wrong, but they were doing it anyway. So stupid... but that was the name of the game in Odaiba. Desperation. All their hopes were in the Hunters.

"I understand that. I know you're just trying to help... and I know you don't want to hurt me... but I-"

And she was away. Rule one of distracting someone with talk: Never make your move between sentences or phrases. She made a beeline for the apartment complex, ducking behind one of the cars parked out front as the sound of gunfire rang over her ears. They weren't lying about lethal force...

She ducked from one car to the next, grunting as a few shards of glass from one of the nearby cars cut across her arm. Several men were after her, but fortunately she had an advantage in tight spaces due to her size. Plus, they were carrying military gear which made it that much harder.

Stay low, Hikari... low... after a few seconds the gunfire would cease as the men began to lose sight of her, weaving back and forth between every car she could manage. Faster... almost there...

As she bolted from behind the last car toward the complex entrance they caught sight of her and opened fire again. One of the glass doors ahead of her shattered from a stray bullet that just barely avoided grazing her side. Well, at least she wouldn't have to waste time opening the door now. Rushing in, she'd spot the first person that came into view – a hysterical woman crouched in a nearby corner.

"Where's the back door?"

The woman cried something incoherent, and Hikari made a break for it. No help there. She went down one of the halls, spotting a couple in the hall, not nearly as panicked but clearly not calm, either.

"The back door! Where is it?!"

They both paused and stuttered a moment and Hikari kept running. No time to stop... fortunately, the man would catch himself before she got out of view and shout directions to her. Right, down the hall, and left. Simple enough.

The lack of Hunters heard behind her in the being were worrisome, mostly due to the possibility that they would be waiting for her when she came out the other side. They weren't, at least not immediately, but it wouldn't be long before they'd come around the building to continue firing on her. Duck, roll... get behind another car, then bolt again.

All this athletic exertion was quickly wearing her out, but she was getting close. Only a few more streets to go-

The moment of distraction, thoughts on her destination rather than her escape, was enough to make a vital mistake. She missed a chance to dive behind one car, thinking instead to go to the next, and that mistake would be answered by a scream from her own lips as she collapsed to the ground, clutching her left shoulder to stem the rapidly growing spot of crimson that was spreading along her clothes.

Fortunately, the bullets would stop as they saw her go down, a sign that they weren't out specifically to kill her... well, how generous. Turn her over to Myotismon instead? That's _definitely_ the merciful option.

Hikari would make an effort to climb to her feet, but she'd quickly fall back to her knees again as the shock of the pain ran through her entire body.

"Send a call to base – we've got her."

She would mutter under her breath, almost wishing she had Masaharu's gun right then. She wasn't normally inclined to violence, but being shot in the arm helped encourage her a bit... for a moment she was ready to simple give up, knowing she couldn't get away in this condition. She'd either be caught or shot, and she didn't know which was worse.

However, before the Hunter reached her she would hear a gunshot and a thud as the man fell dead behind her. A quick series of shots followed, sounding completely different from the Hunter rifles. Machine guns? Who was-

Soon enough she'd see as a large, black, armored van came down the street, ramming through one of the jeeps that stood in its way to pull up beside her. Out of it stepped two large men wearing all black, with a few visible tattoos along their hands and arms. Around her, the gunfire picked up as the sliding door was slammed shut and the van quickly sped away from the Hunters, leaving their allies to keep the military men distracted.

"Who... are... are you... who I think you are?"

She muttered between grunts of pain as the men slowly helped her down onto a rough mat in the back of the van.

"Yakuza. We were told to watch this sector and keep an eye for Hunters following someone."

"Why... why would _Yakuza_ help Katsu?"

"I don't know, and I don't know any Katsu, but I was told _you'd_ know why."

_She'd_ know? What could she possibly-

Suddenly the van screeched to the halt and she'd grunt by the sudden jostling. She would've given them a few sharp words if not for who she was talking to. A second later the sliding door opened and another man was let in. He didn't look like the others... in fact, he almost looked like...

"Who the hell would shoot a _child_?"

The man rushed and knelt down beside her, setting down a first aid kit beside her before prying her arm off her shoulder to begin treating it.

"I'm going to assume we can't take you to a hospital, so I have to remove the bullet here. I'm sorry, but we don't have time for-"

"Shut up and just _do_ it!"

Hikari shouted, grunting as she gripped the mat at her side. This was going to... suck. A lot. But at least she was getting tended to, which was a plus. So they even had a doctor on their side... though the other men didn't know Katsu by name, so perhaps this aid from another source?

"You, hold her arms down. What's your name?"

Hikari grit her teeth in anticipation for what was coming, though she'd manage to mutter out an answer regardless.

"Hikari... a rogue."

The man briefly paused before proceeding, taking what looked like a large pair of tweezers to the wound to grab the bullet and pull it out. If anybody ever had the delusion that Hikari was a 'strong' member of the Hunters, or even the rogues, who never screamed or cried, they would be proven forever wrong in that moment. One of the Yakuza would end up covering her mouth with his hand to keep her from breaking their eardrums. Fortunately, it would stop after a few seconds and the doctor would get to work closing up the wound.

"I know the names of all six rogues, and there isn't a Hikari-"

"Seven!"

She grunted out between gasps for air, clenching her teeth to try to avoid screaming again.

"There's a seventh rogue now?"

One of the other men asked, and the doctor suddenly seemed to be working much more intently. Hikari ignored that for the moment, though, trying to focus her mind on anything to distract her from the pain.

"Pocket... thumbdrive... Yakuza, take one... just- eergh... don't... make it public... only... people you trust..."

Those were Katsu's orders. They needed certain people to know about what the leaders of the Hunters were doing, but they couldn't simply tell everyone in the city and throw it into anarchy. Nor could they set up a revolution and throw the leaders out, else the treaty would be voided and Myotismon would come in and level the city.

The man didn't know what was on the thumb drive, but he was smart enough to figure that it was something important if she was giving it to _him_, knowing who he was.

"That's... why you helped me. Hope... it's worth it."

Her eyes shifted up, then, to the doctor who was crouched over her, working on her shoulder.

"So... what's _your_ name?"

He glanced up to her eyes but continued working, being especially careful so the bumps in the road didn't mess him up.

"Doctor Kido."

"Jou..."

Hikari muttered, earning another glance from the man. Well, they _did_ say Jou was learning a bit about how to be a doctor...

"You're his dad?"

He gave a single, sharp nod but said nothing. Hikari would simply smile at that. Yamato's parents and now hers... seems this war was becoming a family affair. But it felt good to know they were still there, helping their children in any way they could.

After he was done suturing up the wound she would slowly sit up, the pain still rather intense but much more bearable now.

"They stole some books... medical textbooks... downloaded them. They said Jou was teaching himself to be a doctor."

The man's expression changed dramatically then, from one of a focused doctor to simple shock. Apparently he hadn't expected Jou to follow in his footsteps, either because he couldn't with the war, or because he wouldn't want to.

"I'll let him know you fixed my shoulder."

The man nodded, slowly moving to a crouch and then to a full stand, being careful not to be thrown off balance by the bumps in the road.

"Thank you..."

Thank you for carrying the message to his son, or simply telling him what she knew... perhaps both. She didn't know what the man had to be going through, knowing that his son was on the front lines of the war and that they hadn't had a chance to even speak once since it all began. However, the fact that he was now here, working with Yakuza for the simple chance to help someone that was important to the war, and by extension help his son... that spoke for itself.

With that, the girl would finally stand, turning to the Yakuza member that seemed to be the one in charge of the handful of guys in the van.

"Where are we going?"

"To meet our contact. He said you were going to meet him, but your original meeting place isn't safe anymore, so we're taking you somewhere else."

"Are... are we in the tunnel? How'd you-"

"Ask our contact about that. He's the tech man. Cleared the way for us, made sure the tunnel guards were off the grid so they couldn't get any calls."

No calls... that meant they had no idea there was currently a hunt on for her or that the Yakuza had arrived to shoot up the other military vehicles. It also meant they had access to the general network and could tamper with it at will, not just for preset situations like SP-7.

Hikari slowly nodded and moved back to lie on the mat again. Now she could only wait until they reached their destination. While it wouldn't be long, the brief chance to relax from the stress of the fighting and adrenaline was welcome anyway. In that time the doctor would put her arm in a basic sling. Not ideal, but it was enough to get by on. Hopefully Jou could handle the rest.

Eventually they would stop at a large building on the coast. Some kind of warehouse for loading ships, most likely. Emptying the van, the doctor would help Hikari out and to the entrance of the warehouse before he'd stop. That was as far as he went... he wasn't allowed inside at the risk of seeing any faces he shouldn't know.

Only Hikari and the leader of the Yakuza group would head in, to be greeted by an unexpected sight... a boy, no older than she was, with a table and several computers linked up in a network. Their contact... _her_ contact, the tech guy... this was him? _Another_ child? He was- wait... he was...

"Ken?"

The boy would glance back at hearing her voice and smile slightly before noticing her shoulder at which point it would promptly turn to a frown.

"How do you have _Yakuza_ working for you?"

She muttered and Ken turned away, back toward his computer to begin frantically typing in a string of commands. She could guess at what they were for, considering why she was first sent to meet him.

"Exchange of services. I handle their tech, they do jobs for me."

"Jobs like _what_?"

"Delivering messages... delivering goods. Like all those crest copies I made for Katsu."

The crests... so he was the one that made them. That explained it all, then, at least regarding how he got under the radar. Ken, a child genius outside of the Hunters, with Yakuza doing the ground work for him. Of course, there was still the matter of the rogue protocol and the rigged buildings, but... if this was the kind of support network they had, it was becoming more and more obvious how they were able to pull off so many impossible feats.

"The system is almost ready. You have the coordinates for us?"

Hikari paused, confused. Coordinates? She was never given any coordinates to- wait... of course she wasn't. Coordinates for the digital world... they wouldn't have those. Only one person would. Grabbing her digivice, she nearly called Koushiro before pausing, remembering at the last second something she'd otherwise forgotten.

"Oh, that's right. I think this was meant for you."

She took the second thumb drive out of her pocket and handed it to Ken. He greeted it with skepticism, apparently not know what it was yet... oh well, he'll learn soon enough.

"Koushiro, are you there?"

"Here. What's the situation? We haven't heard from you in quite a while."

"Yeah... some stuff happened. I can't explain it all, but... I'm coming to the digital world, I need coordinates for where to open a gate to."

A series of confused replies would sound from various voices through the device for a few seconds, but eventually Koushiro would silence them all. Explanations later, he said.

"That would be the safest method of retreat. Are you at a functional console?"

"Yeah. It's all ready."

"Alright. I'll walk you through the steps for the gate jump. It's fairly simple..."

Not that Hikari would be doing any of the said steps. Ken handled all of that and got all the numbers typed in, and soon enough their system was linked to Koushiro's in the digital world. All that was left was for Hikari to make the jump.

"Okay, I'm coming through..."

Hikari nodded to Ken, glancing back to the Yakuza man behind her to find he was already gone. Oh well... no chance to say thank you, but hopefully it was understood anyway.

Turning back to the computer, she took a deep breath. Even after everything... this moment still frightened her. Leaving the human world... for what she feared would be both the first and the _last_ time. Still... no other way but forward.

Raising her digivice to the computer, the screen would come alight in a rainbow of prismatic colors. Then it soon expanded out from the screen and she was enveloped, this time in light rather than darkness... and soon it was like she was falling again. Falling out of reality itself, and into the another world...


	9. Heroes

A/N:This chapter is a bit of a shift from the normal chaos and conspiracy, but I'm quite pleased with it anyway. Think of it as a breather after the previous breakdown before we dive into the action again next chapter.

UBA: Astute as always... and rest assured that quite a few major events in the war are going to be coming up in the next couple chapters. I won't say more than that so as to avoid spoilers, but you'll see soon enough anyway.

Chapter 9: Heroes

**A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.**

Hikari's arrival in the digital world turned out to be far from as pleasant as she might have imagined it would be. Taichi looked like he was ready to have a heart attack upon seeing Hikari's arm in a sling, and doubly so after he found out why. After several failed attempts by Sora and Yamato to calm him down, Koushiro finally silenced the entire issue by informing them that a group of Myotismon's scouts was approaching their position and that they needed to move out.

The next four hours were spent moving avoiding the scouts, moving out of their range, and finally settling down in one of the group's more familiar rest spots near a group of mountains, opposite a desert on the other side of the range.

Once they had set up camp at the mouth of one of the caves, they settled in for rest and another story time, though this time Hikari would be telling the tale... there was quite a bit to tell, so for now she would just focus on the events of her escape, from the running to being rescued and eventually making it to Ken to escape.

"How were you able to get your shoulder patched up in the middle of escaping?"

Jou idly asked as he carefully checked the condition of the wound. It looked professional, so he doubted that the Yakuza could have done this without help.

Surprisingly enough, most of the group wasn't that shocked to hear about the Yakuza helping her. Not because they were necessarily expecting it, but rather it just made sense that someone like Katsu would have contacts in less than legal sources to help him. It also explained how they were able to get the crest copies shipped around without being discovered.

"They had a doctor with me in the van; he took care of everything while we were driving. Doctor Kido."

Jou froze at the mention of his father. They hadn't spoken in years, and Jou only had tidbits of information about his family since then. He had learned that they moved away and relocated further up the coast, so he simply assumed they were all together, but apparently his father still worked in Odaiba in spite of the danger. He was always stubborn... Jou wouldn't have thought stubborn enough to help Yakuza, but... desperate times, as they say.

"I told him you were learning how to be a doctor. He seemed a little surprised, but... happy, I think."

Jou slowly nodded and returned Hikari's arm to its previous position in the sling before moving to sit with the others. Like his father, he was always good at maintaining his composure, but it was clear that the news impacted him deeply. Happy... he couldn't remember the last time he could connect that emotion to his father, especially concerning his own choices.

In truth, his choice to study medicine from the digital world was a matter of practicality. As a child he always fought his father's wishes for him to be a doctor, but as the digidestined started to procure injuries from their battles they needed somebody to patch them up, especially in the more severe cases. And if they ever faced anything truly life-threatening, they had no solution unless one of them learned medicine.

Mimi had offered to do it due to Jou's resistance to the idea, but ultimately he caved and decided to take up that responsibility. While he appreciated her generosity, he knew he was much better suited for it... having grown up in a family of doctors, he was already somewhat familiar with the field. He simply needed to gain the knowledge and experience. The height of irony, however, was the fact that once he started to learn, he proved to be surprisingly good at it. Apparently destiny has a sense of humor...

"What about the Hunters? Katsu, Masaharu, and the others? Do you know what they were planning after you left?"

Hikari sighed at Koushiro's question, knowing that this topic would inevitably lead to several revelations that she had been trying to keep under wraps. The group knew about Ken, the friend of Katsu who was a technical genius and helped produce the crest copies, but they didn't know he was a child... nor did they know about Katsu or the SDZ in general. All they knew was she was 'with the Hunters,' a suitably vague description that kept them all ignorant of any pertinent details.

"...well, first I have to explain a few things about my division."

It would be another hour before Hikari would finish explaining everything regarding the SDZ and SP-7. The nature of SDZ was shocking to the group, of course, but not so much in general as the fact that both Katsu and Ken were children like them. They were like a sort of amateur Digidestined team. No digivices or digimon, but apparently they'd managed without them just fine.

After she explained the nature of SP-7, Koushiro would immediately log into his computer and begin probing the Hunter Network to try to pick out any reports he could obtain. Most anything the public could get their hands on was available to him as well, he simply needed to dig a little more to get access to the network in order to obtain it.

However, Hikari had been careful to avoid any mention of Katsu's past or the nature of... well, anything about him. She still didn't know who or what he was, or why she had that reaction to him during the meeting in Masaharu's office, and so she didn't want to make her friends worry. Besides, it didn't matter _now_, did it? She was with the Digidestined and she wouldn't be seeing Katsu for quite a while.

"I can't find anything about SDZ yet. Most likely events are still in flux so they don't want to risk reporting anything yet."

"Especially with Katsu running around, if he's half as dangerous as Hikari says."

Tentomon idly commented, earning a brief nod from Koushiro. Hikari kept her mouth shut on that whole matter. Half as dangerous? Heck, she was playing _down_ his danger. He was more likely _twice_ as dangerous as she had explained to them. The Hunters were probably in a panic right about now, if they had figured out what SP-7 was and what SDZ had done. Assuming Katsu's plans played out as he intended, they now had no hope of tracking down and capturing the entire SDZ, which put them in a very precarious position.

Once their initial briefing was finished, most of the team would leave the caves to forage for their dinner, leaving Hikari with Koushiro, Sora, and their partners. She would be joining them and learning how to survive in the wild soon enough, but with her injured arm she was somewhat limited in how much she could help.

With nothing to do but wait, Hikari would spend that time talking to Sora and Biyomon, chatting about their lives in the digital world, asking about the team... whatever came to mind. In truth, Hikari had been curious to talk to Sora for a while. She was the only member of the team Hikari knew little to nothing about from the descriptions of the others. She imagined maybe there was some secret reason as to why, but now that she had a chance to talk to her directly, she couldn't well imagine what that reason might be.

Sora was, as far as digidestined went, completely normal. A child in a war, yes, but beyond that... she was a competent fighter, a sensible thinker, easy to get along with... from her own words, she seemed to be the peacemaker in the group. While it was incredibly easy for the team to focus and work together in the middle of a fight due to the ever-present risk of death, it was the calm times that they tended to get at each others' throats the most, particularly Taichi and Yamato.

Maybe that was why neither of those boys had said anything about Sora when they spoke to their parents? They didn't want to admit that they needed her help to keep from killing each other... maybe. Something about that seemed off, especially given her brother's personality. He was rarely one to mince words, so why would this be an exception?

Before she had any chance to probe into those questions, the others would return and they would be getting dinner prepared. While they worked, Hikari simply watched... not necessarily trying to observe anything in particular, just watching the group as a whole. They were like an odd, somewhat dysfunctional family. Even when doing something as simple as cooking a meal, Taichi and Yamato seemed to argue about every little detail. Yet as soon as the argument was done it was just as swiftly forgotten, to be quickly replaced by the next.

All the while, the others worked around them or, in the case of Koushiro, simply ignored them while he continued sifting through whatever he could get out of the Hunter networks. Sora kept track of what they were doing in those moments they were too distracted by arguing to pay attention, Jou played the role of the big brother, breaking them up when things got too intense, and Mimi... well, she didn't seem to be involved at all. She just sat at one side, peeling fruit, cutting vegetables, or something equally menial, apparently completely content to be out of the center of attention.

It was odd... given what she had heard, Hikari assumed Mimi would have been a bit older than the others, given the way she seemed to play a sort of mother role to the group. However, she was apparently _younger_ than the majority of them. Prior to Hikari's arrival, the two youngest members of the team were Mimi, the team 'mother' and Koushiro, the team genius. How was _that_ for irony...

Once they were finished eating and the others were getting to work cleaning up what was left of the food, Mimi would come over to where Hikari was sitting, calling Koushiro over to join them as well.

"What do you need help with?"

Mimi would grin up to Koushiro as he reached them, offering the most over the top, girly-girl smile Hikari could even imagine, followed with words to match...

"Makeover!"

Both Hikari and Koushiro would be confused, though between them Hikari's confusion would last longer. As soon as he looked her over once, realization would flash across his features and he'd soon be sitting down to set up his laptop beside them

"Ah, right. Gimme a nano..."

Hikari glanced between the two of them a few times before finally settling her gaze on Mimi.

"Uhh... mind explaining what's going on?"

She briefly heard Koushiro mutter something in annoyance before standing up from his laptop and going over to his bag as Mimi began to explain what was happening.

"You need some new clothes. Those are boy clothes, and they're ruined anyway, so Koushiro's going to make you some new ones with his laptop."

"He can just _create_ things with his computer?"

As Hikari spoke, Koushiro would rush back to his laptop and begin plugging in a few extra components, though she would have no idea what purpose any of them served.

"All matter in the digital world is comprised of data, the same as a computer program. Once I discovered the proper coding sequence, it was fairly simple to design a program that could code matter directly into digital reality."

For a moment, Hikari was dumbstruck. The Hunters were still working on trying to develop weapons that could cause harm to perfect-level digimon and meanwhile, Koushiro was here, creating matter out of _nothing_? It put in stark contrast the level of knowledge and experience the two sides had regarding digital reality and physics.

"Of course, there are limitations. I can't code anything living, only inanimate matter. And everything I've made thus far has been fairly low quality... we have to replace everything on a regular basis. Usually every one or two months."

Ah, of course... always wait for the other shoe to drop. Still, that was a level well above what the Hunters could manage, even if Koushiro did have the advantage of living in the digital world rather than the analogue one.

"He's always so critical of himself... it started at a couple weeks. He's improved the code a lot."

Tentomon commented as Koushiro finished setting up everything for his computer.

"Not enough...I still have a long way to go."

"Then go. Don't let _us_ keep you."

Hikari found herself snickering at the exchange between Koushiro and his partner. He reminded her of Katsu, in a way, always so critical of everything. Granted, he was a bit less grim, and a bit more nerdy... still, she could imagine what it would be like for Katsu to have a quick-witted digimon partner answering all his criticisms, and it was nothing short of hilarious.

"Remind me never to introduce him to Katsu. He's even more critical..."

"Good idea. I hear criticism causes friction. Too much of it and one of them might spontaneously combust."

Hikari paused and simply blinked at Tentomon's rather odd sense of humor. Before she could say anything, though, Koushiro interrupted with a rather loud and overt clearing of his throat to draw their attention back to the matter at hand.

"Alright. First I'll need you to stand up."

As he spoke, Mimi would stand and help Hikari to her feet as well. A few seconds would pass as Koushiro's computer did some sort of scan of her, and then he had her sit again and take a place beside him so she could see his screen.

"My program will automatically fit everything to your size. All I need now is to know what you want me to make for you. I can create some fairly elaborate designs... Mimi regularly pushes the limits of what my program can do."

"Just doing my part to help you get better."

Koushiro threw a dirty glance her way, but said nothing. Yeah... get better. That would be more welcome if he actually had _time_ to tweak his program while also working on his half-dozen other projects at the same time.

"Honestly, I'd just like my old uniform back..."

"Uniform? Your Hunter uniform?"

"Okay, well not... it wasn't exactly a _uniform_. Katsu let me work outside the normal dress code... I could choose what I wanted to wear, he just wanted it to be consistent, so it sort of became my uniform."

"Well, describe it to me and I'll see what I can come up with."

Due to the way Koushiro programmed the design into the system, the process was a bit more complex and technical than Hikari would have preferred, but ultimately they would succeed in fashioning something that was more or less what she wanted. There were a few details that Koushiro chose to change for practical reasons, particularly the addition of a few extra pockets and other spots to carry extra tools and the like. Not pretty, but it was functional, and that was more important when they were on the run from Myotismon on a daily basis.

"Alright, the design is uploaded. It will take a few minutes for it to be created, though."

Hikari nodded, noticing Mimi returning to her side once she heard that the process was done.

"Great. While you're waiting, I'll show you the stream a little higher up the mountain. We still have a few hours before sundown, and there's a little falls that's a great place for a bath. You could use one; we need to get that blood washed off you."

Hikari paused a moment to think. A bath... oddly, that hadn't even crossed her mind, but she was right. Even if digimon didn't bleed, some of them still had a keen sense of smell for pursuing their targets... in fact, that many of them didn't bleed made it that much worse for her, since her scent would stand out that much more as a result.

"She could also use a new sling for her arm. That one is a bit too large."

Jou cut in to the middle of the conversation, apparently having snuck up when nobody was paying attention. His comment grabbed Koushiro's attention as he pointed out the slightly off-size of the item that held her arm. It wasn't even a proper medical sling, just something thrown together on the fly, so it was no surprise that it wasn't right. The fact that his father was able to do so well in so short a time was a testament to his skill as a doctor... but Jou could still do better, now that they had time to do it right.

"Well, Koushiro has all the data, so you can come up with that before we get back."

"Don't I need to get a change of clothes first?"

Mimi shrugged, reaching down to help Hikari up to her feet.

"Nope. I'll just let you borrow some of mine until we get back."

"You've definitely got enough..."

Koushiro muttered, though Mimi didn't seem to notice, or more likely just didn't care to. She promptly grabbed her bag before leading the way out of the cave and around to the path that led up into the mountains, where Palmon was already waiting for them. From there they headed up a ways to find the stream that Mimi mentioned.

To Hikari's surprise, as soon as they arrived Mimi would change out of her violet dress into the swimsuit she wore underneath it. Then she would help Hikari start to work her arm out of the sling while Palmon started pulling out the changes of clothes from Mimi's bag and setting them up at the edge of the stream for the two one they were finished.

"You're taking a bath too?"

"No, I'm here for _you_. You'll need help until your arm gets better."

"Oh... uh..."

Hikari's voice trailed off and she nodded lightly, though it was clear from the change of color on her face that she was more than a little embarrassed about the idea. She hadn't needed help taking a bath since she was a little girl, and Mimi wasn't actually that much older than she was, so it was a bit awkward, even if it did make sense.

"Sora needed help once, too. She sprained her ankle. I had to help her for weeks, so it doesn't bother me anymore. If you want me to go, though..."

"No, no... I'll be... fine. Besides, you're right. I _do_ need help."

Once the sling was off, Hikari took a deep breath before promptly stripping down completely, as quick as she could so as to get through the initial embarrassment. Fortunately, Mimi's attitude seemed to help a bit. Her eyes never landed on Hikari, even as she helped the girl up and under the falling water. Well... she did say it didn't bother her _anymore_, so that must have meant she was embarrassed about helping at first as well, and she'd since learned how to avoid anything that would be awkward.

The first thing Mimi would do would be to start carefully cleaning the blood off Hikari's shoulder while Palmon stood by and helped by passing her the soap and anything else she needed.

"So, what's bothering you?"

Hikari raised her head from the bowing position she'd been holding it in to glance back over her shoulder, somewhat confused by the rather sudden question.

"What do you mean?"

"I saw your look while we were making dinner. Something's on your mind."

For a moment Hikari thought to say nothing, but... maybe this was the best option. Most of the others she couldn't ask because it involved them, and that would have made it awkward. Mimi's apparently independent position from the rest of the group made her the best choice to ask about most things.

"I just thought that the digidestined are sort of like a little family. Kind of dysfunctional, but still a family. It's just..."

"Something doesn't make sense?"

Hikari nodded. Of course Mimi probably knew already. She'd known this group and traveled with them for three solid years. Anything Hikari glimpsed, Mimi would already know inside and out.

"Taichi and Yamato... after those two operations, I thought they were a good team, but here... I see them fighting over everything. How are they able to work together so well if they're like this?"

"Because the fights don't matter."

Hikari sighed slightly, shaking her head. Don't matter... not the impression _she_ was getting.

"They sure seemed to matter back there... Jou even had to break them up a few times."

"Not like that. There are problems, yes, but things like dinner... that's not what they're fighting over. They're just venting."

"But why are they venting at _each other_? I understand the war is frustrating, but we're on the same-"

"It's not about the war."

Hikari paused, glancing back to Mimi's face, which was unusually blank. She was deliberately hiding whatever she was thinking and feeling, and doing a good job at it... though she was naturally emotional enough that, unlike Katsu, it was clear to see she was at least hiding _something_, even if Hikari didn't know what.

Of course, Hikari always knew when Katsu was hiding something too, even when it wasn't obvious by his looks. In his case, however, she used a much more objective method of figuring it out. She simply worked off a very basic rule: If he was around anyone, anytime, anywhere, he was hiding something.

Of course, Katsu was a military strategist, not a personal counselor. The things they needed to hide were very different in nature. In Mimi's case, it was something regarding her friends, about Taichi and Yamato that wasn't entirely clear to Hikari. Something about the situation that was off... something like the girl they never talked about.

"Why is Sora always the one that's mediating between them?"

Mimi smiled slightly. A smile of resignation, almost... defeat? So much for trying to hide it. Hikari simply figured it out on her own.

"...because she's a part of the fight."

Suddenly Hikari's mind was drawing a blank again. Part of the fight... she had no idea how that could be the case. She never saw Sora arguing with anyone, and everything she knew about the girl showed she was just like everyone else on the team. So what was she missing...

A few minutes would pass and Mimi would notice the confused, contemplative expression on Hikari's face before she would finally sigh and give in. Alright... it was probably a mistake to mention it, but everyone else already knew to some extent, so Hikari might as well be told now so she didn't have to keep wondering about it.

"They aren't fighting _because_ of Sora, they're fighting _over_ her. Taichi and Yamato... are both in love with her."

Hikari's head snapped around to face Mimi again, shock written on her features. They were... well, she understood it to an extent, though with the war she hadn't stopped to think it might be something so personal... truth be told, whatever childhood fantasies she'd had about romance or love were cast aside as soon as she learned her brother was fighting in the war. Then her thoughts turned entirely to helping her family, pushing aside anything else that might have distracted her from that.

"Does... does she..."

Mimi nodded slightly and simply continued bathing Hikari, noting how quickly the girl forgot her embarrassment when she had something to preoccupy her mind. Of course, it also meant she wasn't thinking much about washing herself now, so Mimi had to do more work, but that was fine... gave _her_ something to preoccupy herself with as well, so she didn't get too upset thinking about the implications of what she was saying and how painful it was to see her friends going through this.

"She knows. But she can't do anything about it... she's scared of what will happen if she tries to choose one or the other... what it might do to our team. And even if she _could_ choose without fear, she couldn't bring herself to... because she's in love with _both_ of them."

Hikari turned her eyes forward at nothing again, unable to muster a reply to that. What that meant for the digidestined... granted, they were able to work together just fine when they faced danger, so it wasn't a potential risk to the war... not yet. But what they each must have been going through... she couldn't even imagine.

"Are... are you sure that's true?"

"As sure as I can be. She told me... they all did. I'm the one who had to be the peacemaker when the team nearly broke up once. Sora was in tears, Yamato was ready to leave... so I talked to each of them. I found out what was going on... and I made sure everyone understood."

"What do you mean 'understood'?"

"I mean I told them... I told them all everything I've told you, and they all know that each other knows, too."

So it was like a sort of cold war between the two of them... working together out of necessity, but constantly at each others' throat because of that fundamental divide. In the end, only one of them could have the girl they both loved.

"But why fight about it? If they all know everything that's happening... don't they know it's Sora's choice?"

"They do... but that's not the problem. The problem is, they're like brothers. They trust each other more than anybody else in the team... in the family."

"They fight _because_ they trust each other?"

Mimi nodded slowly, taking a moment to force her mind to refocus on helping Hikari as she could feel the tears starting to form in her eyes. No... she had to be strong for everyone else. She was the one holding them up. She couldn't let herself break down.

"It's not like they're rivals who both think they're better than each other. They both know how strong the other is, and that's what scares them. Taichi... he's like a fire you can't extinguish. He's bold, bright, impossible to intimidate... he's a natural leader, and Yamato is scared of losing Sora by falling into his shadow. Yamato... he's the opposite. He's like ice. Strong, shrewd, always thinking ahead and taking care of his friends. He's naturally dependable, and Taichi is scared that outside of the war and the fighting he can't compare. The fact they respect each other just makes their rivalry that much worse. They don't think that the other one doesn't deserve Sora... they're scared the other deserves her _more_."

Silence. Hikari didn't know what to do or say, so she simply said nothing. The silence would hang between them until she was finished bathing and moved to the edge of the water where Palmon offered them both towels to dry off with. Once she was finished and wrapped up in her towel Mimi would head over to grab the change of clothes for Hikari, though the younger girl's mind was still preoccupied with thoughts of everything that she had been told.

As Mimi moved to Hikari's side, she wouldn't even have a chance to mention getting dressed before the girl would suddenly grab her and pull her into as tight a hug as she could manage with the arm she could use. The older girl would return the gesture, sitting down and pulling Hikari into a tight hug as she felt her body tremble slightly from the tears that forced their way to the surface. Palmon moved in behind Hikari to hug her as well, unable to do anything but offer support, the same as her partner.

"We have to be strong for them, Hikari... they'll get through this. But first we have to end this war. Until we do, none of us have a chance to really live our own lives."

Hikari would nod into her shoulder, though the tears would not stop for several minutes yet. When they finally did, she would move from Mimi's lap and stand, wiping her eyes as the older girl dressed herself in a simple t-shirt and jeans before turning to help Hikari. The process of getting dressed with one injured arm was far more tricky than she had anticipated, but fortunately she had help to accomplish it without too much trouble.

When it came time to put her arm back in the sling she would opt not to, choosing instead to simply hold her injured arm with her good one. It was a short walk back to the cave anyway, and they'd have a new sling and change of clothes for her there. No reason to put on the bloody mess of one she already had and potentially ruin some of Mimi's clothes in the process.

They'd be back just a little before sunset, giving them an outstanding view of the bright orange sky and clouds as they neared the mouth of the cave. Hikari would pause there and take a moment and to gaze at the rather extraordinary sight. She always loved sunsets, but here... with all the strange, digital plants in all manner of exotic forms and colors, from trees with strange, green, almost mossy bark to the downright alien plants with blue stems and with purple leaves... it was stunning. Peculiar, yes, but no less beautiful for it.

Eventually Hikari would head into the cave to find Koushiro, who sat with his laptop near one wall with a small pile of clothes beside him, brand-new, standard medical sling included. Koushiro would notice Hikari at her approach and turn to greet her.

"Everything is re- ah..."

Koushiro paused a moment and Hikari glanced from the clothes to his face, noticing his eyes on something behind her before he promptly turned away to face his laptop screen. What was... wait, was he turning pink?

Hikari turned to look back quickly to spot... Mimi? Odd... was she smiling? And Hikari could have sworn she suddenly straightened up her posture as the girl turned back to her. She could only assume that there was some nonverbal exchange between those two that she missed, and as Koushiro once again cleared his throat audibly and spoke it only seemed to confirm it.

"Can we _focus_, please?"

Mimi let out a quick, girlish giggle as she passed Hikari before nodding down to the boy seated at her feet.

"Sorry. Please, continue."

Mimi motioned back to Hikari as she pulled her hair back and into a rough ponytail. She looked a bit of a mess compared to normal. Her shirt and jeans didn't quite have that same elegance that her dresses did, and her hair was a soaked, tangled mess... yet, in a way, that made perfect sense to Hikari. There were two sides to everything, even Katsu. The face they showed the world, like Mimi when she wore all her pretty dresses – which she was _somehow_ still able to wear functionally while escaping from Myotismon's scouts – and then this... the rough side that people only saw when she didn't have time to gussy up.

She wondered... did _she_ also have a side that she never showed the world? A mask that she wore to cover her real self? Hikari had never really thought about it consciously, but now it had got her thinking...

"As I was saying, everything is ready for you. It should fit well enough, but everyone has a different idea of what they think is comfortable, so figure that out first. Tighter, looser... just let me know and I'll change it for next time."

Hikari nodded and went to collect her new clothes, though Palmon would grab them before she'd have a chance and take them over to Mimi, who was already busy setting up several curtains for a small changing booth.

Sighing, Hikari would follow her over. Seems Mimi intended to play mother right down to the end... alright, fine. She'd play along, but only because she was getting tired of holding her arm like she was. Besides, if it made Mimi happy to help her, no reason why she should refuse.

It didn't take long for Hikari to change, and she was rather surprised by the new clothes she was given. It wasn't quite like any fabric she knew. The texture almost made her think of... smooth glass, yet it was insulting as well as any normal fabric from the analogue world. Maybe the peculiar texture was just a result of how it was made? She'd have to remember to ask Koushiro about that later...

The same traits applied to her sling, which was fortunately a much better fit and far more comfortable than the makeshift one she'd been given before. Once everything was on properly, Mimi would take a moment to look her over, top to bottom, before giving her a smile and a nod of approval. The team's resident fashion expert approved of her style. That was a good sign.

After all was said and done, Hikari would head back out to sit at the edge of the cave. It was strange... sitting there, watching the sunset, she actually felt... normal. More normal than she had ever felt with the Hunters, and yet she was much further from that concept now than she had ever been. Was that a sign that she was becoming less and less normal? Or was it simply that the digidestined were still so much like normal people and that they'd managed to maintain that sense even when being thrust into the heart of the war?

Either way, Hikari could already tell she would enjoy this life. Even through the conflict, being here among friends, fighting to truly make a difference... this was the way she would prefer it. This was where she was supposed to be, so even if it wasn't normal, it was right. It was a place they were _all_ supposed to be.

All of them... all seven? Or all eight? Glancing down to her digivice, Hikari pondered making that call again, trying to contact Takeru, or whoever now held his digivice... but no. Not yet. Not with the others around. She didn't truly know yet if it was him or if somehow somebody else had come into possession and use of his digivice. She had to find out on her own before she said anything that might have gotten the others' hopes in, just in case she was wrong.

So... seven. Seven for now, until she could figure out where the final digivice had found itself. Then maybe... just maybe... there would be eight again.


	10. Destined

A/N: Okay, before I say or do anything else, I feel I need to get this out of the way now: For anybody who may wonder or ask, the original source for the entire conflict described last chapter was Taiora/Sorato shipping wars. Seriously. While I have a plan for how it will all play out by the end (which I'm not saying a word about, nyah!) I am also aware that whichever way I go, it will inevitably, in some way, get me involved in the shipping war, so rather than fight it I simply embraced it fully and decided to make said war a part of the plot itself. That's right – I'm fighting a shipping war against MYSELF! (And on that note, any reviews referencing said conflict that either ask me to say what my plans are or insist that it should to turn out a certain way will be politely ignored.)

So... I just recently discovered that I can reply to reviews directly, so I no longer have to add replies to the chapters themselves, which is rather nice since I can reply immediately without making everyone wait for the next chapter. And now I don't have to worry about how much space I'm burning up at the start of the chapter with notes. Yay!

Also, apologies to everyone for the delay in publishing this chapter. Right after I started working on it I got extremely sick, and then as soon as I recovered I was busy for several days and had literally no time to write anything. Hopefully the quality makes up for the delay.

Chapter 10: Destined

**Destiny is no matter of chance. It is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.**

The lone digimon sighed as he made his way through an otherwise deserted part of one of the captured sectors. The last few days had been long and exhausting, but things were finally stabilizing again. The incompetence of the Hunter leadership had almost ended the treaty and led to a full invasion, but fortunately their answers to the problems were suitable enough to hold off Myotismon's wrath. The division that had been giving them trouble was now a thing of the past, utterly removed from the equation. Now there was nobody within the Hunters to interfere with the operations of the leaders and anything Myotismon ordered them to do.

Yeah, right... he wasn't stupid enough to believe that, even if that over-stuffed blood sucker was. The secret division that had kept one of the digidestined hidden for weeks and managed to set up several secret operations right under the noses of the leaders... and they were swept away just like that? Idiots... the only reason anyone believed that was because that's what they were _supposed_ to believe. Their strings were still being pulled, and by more than just Myotismon.

But no matter. They were meaningless now. The child had been found. Escaped and fled to the digital world, yes, but that only helped. They didn't have to worry about maintaining a fake peace and sneaking into Hunter territory to deal with her. They could just send their forces after the children in the digital world and kill them all in one fell swoop. She had no partner yet, so she would be an easy target... Myotismon was pleased with this turn of events.

All was going well. The Hunters were happy that their treaty was helping them maintain peace. Myotismon was happy that he had a clear shot at the children. The digidestined were probably happy that they had been united in the digital world, with the girl now safely away from the Hunters... only one other person to placate and then everyone could all swim together in the massive stew of blissful ignorance as they each imagined themselves to be in an improving position.

The digimon landed atop a tombstone in the graveyard, stretching his wings a moment as he contemplated the situation. He quickly hopped across the tops of several more tombstones, working his way toward the center of the graveyard where there stood a large statue of an angel in the midst of the other graves.

As he neared it he'd freeze in place. Something had just shifted. It was extremely subtle, but definitely there. His eyes and ears detected nothing, but his unique nature gave him access to more than just physical senses. Somebody else was there, watching him and... approaching. He quickly jumped and flew up to the top of the statue, perching atop its head to glance around. Nobody in sight, even to the gaze of the keen-eyed nocturnal digimon. How was that- ah... yes, of course. He should have figured that out immediately.

"Ya know, it's not nice to sneak up on your friends, Pointy-Hat."

"...how did you know I was here?"

He sighed and shook his head as he turned back to face the digimon that was, of course, standing behind him.

"_Please_. The only one in our whole army that loves dramatic entries more than you is Lord Myotismon, and he's not here."

Wizardmon narrowed his eyes slightly. That didn't quite answer the question of how he knew there was anybody approaching in the first place, but no matter. That was the least of his concerns right now.

"DemiDevimon... I just heard that one of our scouts located the current hideaway of the destined children, but no order has been given to attack them."

"Eh, so what? Not my issue, I'm not a general. You should ask Hood'n'Slice about that one."

"You're in charge of scouting and intelligence. I had assumed you would report it directly to Lord Myotismon's generals so we could gather our forces for an attack."

DemiDevimon let out a quick, mocking laugh and jumped down off the statue, landing on one the tombstones in front of it again.

"Yeah, I'm in charge of scouting and _intelligence_, not scouting and _stupidity_. Those kids obviously have some way of seeing our army coming, so sending the whole shebang after them wouldn't work. They'd just run off and we'd be back to square one. We need to send someone a little more... _covert_."

Wizardmon's eyes narrowed again, this time in clear hostility. He knew it... that little schemer was up to his tricks again. He was acting alone, without Myotismon's approval, which meant there were only a few things he could be planning...

"Where is Gatomon?"

"Oooh... so _angry_. Wonder why _that_ is? But you shouldn't get uppity at _me_, I haven't done anything. Last time I saw Kitty-Litter she came to ask me a buncha questions and then ran off. Go find her yourself."

"What did she ask you?"

"Apparently, she heard the same thing you did about the kids being found. She demanded to know where they were, and I didn't want to interfere with another _loyal_ servant of Lord Myotismon, so I told her. Then she ran off."

What? DemiDevimon told Gatomon where the digidestined were? That made no sense...

"Why would you tell her where they were and not inform anyone else?"

"Why not? It's all she's talked about since we first walked in on this crummy world. _Find the child! Fine the child! I'm a prissy, spoiled pet who needs some catnip!_ Pah! She wants them so badly, she can have them. If she goes alone they probably won't see her coming, and if she takes the girl out for us, all the better."

Lies. All of it. Demidevimon historically hated Gatomon and did whatever he could to hinder her. That he was helping her now... this had to be a trap. Setting her up to be caught and killed by the digidestined, most likely, since they didn't know about...

But how did he manage to trick her into falling for that? She was smart... and she knew better than to trust DemiDevimon to be honest, so it had to be something else. Play scared? Maybe... knowing Gatomon, she likely threatened him at least once.

"Where are the destined children?"

DemiDevimon took to the air, holding position a few feet in front and above Wizardmon's head, looking completely casual, which likely meant he was likely putting on a fake face to trick Wizardmon, too.

"Edge of the desert south of Lord Myotismon's fortress in the digital world. Taking the mountains south toward the beach. Probably holed up in a cave or somethin' right now. Heck, you may even be able to catch up to your little pussycat friend if you leave now."

Wizardmon paused a moment, staring up at the runt for a moment, trying to read through whatever tricks he was trying to play. He didn't seem to be lying... was this a trap for Wizardmon, too? Well, if it was, he'd be sorely disappointed.

"Whatever you're plan is, it's going to fail."

With that, Wizardmon turned to rush away, heading to the nearest accessible rift to get back to the digital world as soon as possible. Gatomon was fast, but hopefully his flight would give him the speed advantage he needed to catch up. As for DemiDevimon, he returned to his perch in front of the angel statue, watching the wizard as he vanished into the distance.

Fail? Hardly... it's already succeeded. Fly fast, little wizard-man. Play your part, finish assembling the child team... do your part for destiny. Destiny has many faces, after all... but you don't realize that yet, and you won't before the other faces become visible... and then it'll be too late to stop what's coming.

Hearing brief a rustling in the breeze, DemiDevimon glanced aside, noticing a Bakemon scout approaching.

"Sir, who else was just here?"

"Hm? Nobody. I'm the only one here, and I haven't seen anyone until _you_ showed up."

"One of our scouts said they saw someone they couldn't identify, and they were certain they came this way. Did-"

DemiDevimon sighed in annoyance and took to the air again, deliberately looming directly over the Bakemon's head to create a sense of dread. He may have been a lower level in evolution and weaker as a fighter, but DemiDevimon still had Myotismon's ear when few others did, so the Bakemon and other low-rank digimon knew he wasn't to be crossed.

"Look, buddy, there was nobody here except me. Now, if this is really a big deal, I can report to the commander of this area and let them know that one of you spotted someone you weren't able to catch, and then you left your post to ask me about it. Then _he_ can deal with it – would that make you feel better?"

"Ah, ah... no! No... that... that's fine. I'm sure if there was somebody here you would have seen them. I... uh... I'm going to return to my post now. Thank you, sir."

"Don't _mention_ it."

No, seriously, don't. Keep your damn mouth shut and don't rock the boat, because I'm the captain and I can get you thrown overboard. Dumb scout ghosts... always questioning everything rather than just doing what they were told.

Finally he was able to land without being interrupted, this time where he could read the inscription on the angel statue.

_This monument stands in memorial of Takeru Takaishi_

_War is the hell of our own creation. When hell comes to Earth, it is the angels that fall first._

Angels first, indeed... he had read the writing on that stone before, only this time it had been modified a bit. Above the rest of the writing, just beneath the feet of the angel was another inscription, obviously carved by a less professional hand, yet nevertheless quite legible.

_HOPE RIDES ALONE_

DemiDevimon could feel a small grin growing on his features as his eyes locked on those words. Hope... hope has many faces, too. And oh, what irony it would be when they finally discovered the others... looming right before their eyes. Yet who among them, in all their ignorance, could even glimpse the truth yet?

At last, it was happening... the war was progressing as it should, moving rapidly toward its end. All the pieces were being assembled, and soon this enormous charade could finally be put to rest. Fight, children... heroes of the two worlds. Destiny is going to have its way, whether or not it's a destiny you accept.

No stopping it now. There was still a long, arduous road before everything would finally reach its fulfillment, but they had taken the first steps. From there on, destiny itself would ensure that their fate reached its fullness. All in due time... there would be a reckoning. All in due time...

The day is coming, Gennai... fate is catching up to you, and sooner than you could ever imagine.

* * *

"'Investigations revealed that the division in question was taking part in covert operations to undermine the efforts of Hunter Command.'"

"I guess that's technically true."

Taichi commented idly as Koushiro read off excerpts of the official Hunter reports to the rest of the team. It took a while longer than they had expected for said reports to be released, which was perhaps a sign that SDZ had caused more problems for the Hunters than were expected, but they had no way to be sure.

"Most of that's propaganda. Skip to the end."

Hikari muttered, having seen first hand the kind of lies the Hunters spun, even regarding things they had no reason to cover up. Rather than just admit the digidestined helped them, they claimed it was entirely the work of their own army. How they managed to justify having such an enormous success on a single occasion and then being defeated horribly the rest of the time, she still didn't know...

"Well, the reports are fairly complex. There's no real 'summary version' out there. From what I can tell, however, SDZ was supposedly dissolved by Hunter Command... though it doesn't mention the division by name anywhere."

"So they're taking credit for what Katsu did?"

Jou asked, considering the implications of it. On the one hand, it was good because they knew the truth... if the Hunters had to claim that the dissolution of SDZ was _their_ order then it meant that Katsu had caught them off guard and they were probably trying to save face. On the other hand...

"Might as well. Take credit for all the good things, pin the bad on someone else. Isn't that what propaganda is all about?"

Jou nodded lightly to Gomamon. True enough, but that was part of the problem. If SDZ was ever blamed for the treaty with Myotismon then exposing anything related to the treaty would only hurt them more unless they could first convince everyone that it was the Hunter Command that was really responsible.

"Okay, so where does this leave us?"

Taichi asked as Koushiro continued skimming reports, looking for anything valuable.

"I don't think much has changed. Katsu's plan seems to have worked, but without knowing what he has planned next we have to just keep searching for the crests."

Sora muttered, idly mulling over the matter in her head. It was strange to think that such a massive event could lead to so few real changes for them. SDZ had gone into hiding, yes, but that didn't affect them directly. Hikari was with them, but that just gave them an extra head to protect until she found her partner. In the big picture, their objectives remained exactly the same, and their present conditions had changed only slightly. The reality was that the Hunter leadership had betrayed them well before they ever learned about it, and they merely discovered what the real condition of the war was and what it had been all along.

"I wouldn't say that. _Our_ goals are the same, but Myotismon's aren't. Now that we're all together, he's going to focus a lot more on hunting us down."

Yamato replied before moving away from the group to grab his bag and begin unpacking to settle in to the cave for the night.

"Good. The more, the better."

Hikari's attitude over the past few days had only surprised the group more and more with each day. Her determination to help despite her injury was the least of their surprises. They'd already encountered that on numerous occasions while she was their contact in the Hunters. More surprising was her intellect which, though nowhere near Koushiro's level of genius, picked up knowledge from the others at a rate that was simply staggering. It was like her whole being was wired completely for building her into the perfect digidestined to fight this war... and truthfully, in many ways it was. Until the war ended, she cared about nothing except winning and protecting those she cared about.

Most shocking of all, however, was her attitude toward fighting in general. For such a young child, and the one was to be the bearer of the Crest of Light, Hikari was shockingly merciless. Hikari gave no thought to even trying to spare their enemies. It was not for animosity, but simple necessity... they served Myotismon, and until the war was over the children had no choice but to do their worst. Myotismon wasn't going to hold back, so they couldn't either. She also knew that they, as the digidestined, were better armed to take on those enemies than the humans in Odaiba, so she was more than happy to accept any opportunity to fight them so as to draw the danger away from the Hunters. Though they all understood this, none of them were quite as eager as she was to throw themselves into the fighting.

Maybe it was because she didn't have a partner who was in danger? Or was her hope in their abilities simply that much stronger than any of their own?

"Then everybody make sure you get rested up. If Myotismon's going to be chasing us full-time, then we need to be up and moving extra early to stay ahead of him so we can keep hunting for the crests. Make sure you're all packed and ready to go by dawn."

Taichi knew none of them would like hearing that... they rarely had to be up that early, and it was always an uncomfortable shift from their normal routine. To make it normal would be hard, but if it was necessary... they all knew where they stood. What was necessary for the war...

While the others unpacked, Jou checked on Hikari's shoulder again as part of their daily routine to make sure it was recovering well. Like the others, she was healing slightly faster than what would be considered normal. For some reason, the digital world seemed to have that effect on them. Jou and Koushiro had developed several theories as to why, with the most likely explanations being related to the food they ate or some unknown reaction to their crests or digivices, but they had yet to find any data to either confirm or deny it.

Once that was finished, the rest of them would settle in and prepare to rest. They would be busy figuring out the night watch when Koushiro, who was still wide awake and searching for anything of value from Hunter reports, finally found what he had been looking for.

"Oh... crap."

Tentomon was soon at his side and echoing the same sentiment, which drew the attention of the other digidestined as well. It was rare that the things that upset Koushiro had the same effect on the distinctively more laid back Tentomon, and every time they did it was always something really bad.

"What'd you find?"

As Taichi approached, Koushiro lowered his laptop screen to conceal it from view. He was tense, wary of saying anything about what he found, which only served to unnerve Taichi and the others who saw it even more.

"I... managed to get into the Hunter records. I found one of the... official reports about SDZ."

"Koushiro... what happened?"

He wouldn't get a reply from the techie, and it would be several seconds before Tentomon eventually responded for him, though he was no more eager to speak up than his partner was.

"Masaharu was caught and arrested. He was put in a Hunter military prison... no word about what's going to happen to him there."

Silence. They all knew what that meant... what could happen to Masaharu, especially after everything that had occurred with his division. No telling what the Hunters intended, and since they were answering to Myotismon... his life could very well be on the line, but they could do nothing to save him. And worse, it wasn't just a friend, it was Yamato's own father... after having already lost his brother years ago, the war nearly broke him once. If Masaharu died now...

"That's... not the only thing I found."

Tentomon glanced to Koushiro. He wasn't sure if the boy was going to say anything about that part... he knew that _he_ sure as hell wasn't. The news about Masaharu wasn't even the worst part of it all. Worse for Yamato, but for the war as a whole... they had a far bigger problem.

"The report covers all of the SDZ leadership. Katsu Fang... is dead. Killed in a firefight near one of the barriers while trying to escape."

Hikari froze. Dead? That's... no, that's impossible. First, that he could be caught like that, second... a firefight? That made no sense. Masaharu was the one with the gun, not _him_! How would he have even gotten into a firefight in the first place? There were too many questions... too many problems. It was life with Katsu, as always. You think you know what's happening until you find out he was leading you on all along...

"Details."

Hikari's gaze locked on Koushiro and the others said nothing. It was clear enough that she didn't believe it, and was in no mood to accept it, period. Whether she was right or not... well, it didn't make a difference. They couldn't talk her through it either way. Instead, Sora, Mimi and Taichi went to sit with Yamato while Hikari began to grill Koushiro about the report.

"Apparently, he disappeared along with the rest of SDZ. Then shortly after Masaharu was caught and arrested, Katsu was spotted near the barrier. It's unclear whether he was skirting the edge of the barrier and heading toward the coast or looking for a place to pass through, but when they found him he ultimately did the latter. Somehow he managed to hack the system, open one of the tunnels, and get through to Myotismon's territory. Then the report gets unclear. Apparently there were enemy digimon attacking at some point that had to be fought off... shots were fired, it was unclear who fired first... though it is clear that at some point Katsu _did_ fire at the Hunters, and then he was shot down and killed before the Hunters had to flee back to their own territory."

There were so many things wrong with that report that Hikari couldn't even hope to list them all. He was fleeing to _Myotismon's_ territory? That was worse than being around the Hunters! How'd he even have a gun in the first place? And why, for that matter, would he shoot at the Hunters if there were already digimon there, attacking and distracting them?

"That certainly leaves a few questions, doesn't it?"

Jou commented idly, clearly thinking along the same lines as Hikari. He'd learned a long time ago not to trust anything that looked even remotely suspicious, and this was _well_ beyond suspicious... the question was, who was the lying party here?

"I know what you're thinking... there are enough anomalies in the report to make it questionable, but the Hunters double-checked all the details. There are numerous recorded debriefings to confirm it. Every Hunter who was present for the fight reported the same thing. The digimon, the shots, the death of Katsu... and one of them checked the body to find there was no pulse."

Hikari said nothing. She still didn't believe it. This wasn't just a kid who was good at his job... this boy was something inhuman. Paranoid to an extreme, the best liar she ever knew... he made an art out of tricking people whose job it was to not be tricked. Of course Masaharu would be arrested... they all knew he was Katsu's mouthpiece to the Hunters, but Katsu himself? Could he really get away with just that? No... they would kill him, either on their own or at Myotismon's order. Nothing less than his death would satisfy them, so nothing less than faking his death would suffice to hide him.

"But it's still questionable, which means they're likely going to keep investigating it."

Jou turned to Hikari, who glanced up in reply to his words. Investigating... of course. Brilliant boy, he wasn't only protecting himself...

"They're going to interrogate Masaharu about it. They won't do anything to him until they get all the answers they're looking for."

Jou nodded lightly. He could understand what Hikari obviously saw in this boy... why she looked up to him as a brilliant strategist. Even if he _was_ dead, the circumstances of the event were such that it would leave the Hunters questioning it. Hunter Command was the group responsible for making the treaty with Myotismon, so why would _Katsu_ try to flee into his territory for safety? He had proven his brilliance over the past few years in his work with the Hunters, so he obviously wasn't stupid. So did he have his own deal with Myotismon they didn't know about? And if not, why would he go into digimon territory armed to fight _humans_? The sheer number of questions would leave Hunter Command paralyzed with paranoia...

Then the final question for the digidestined... was he devoted enough to go even to _that_ length? To sacrifice his life just to protect Masaharu and set the Hunters on edge so as to give the children an advantage in the future? Hikari knew the answer already... there was no question he would do anything and sacrifice anything if it was necessary for victory. Instead it was a question of ability. Was he good enough to fake his own death like this, or did he finally reach the end of his luck and get killed trying to put one of his plans into effect?

They had no way of knowing... not yet. So Hikari eventually settled down to rest while the others took care of planning the night watch.

* * *

A cave. Damn it all. They had someone on watch, and there was only one entrance. If she tried to get in through there, she'd be up against all of the children and their partners at once. She needed backup, but she wasn't going to wait around for the rest of the army. She'd spent so long... _years_, searching for this girl. It had become more than just a mission, it was an obsession. Everything hinged on defeating the children, and this girl was the crux of that... the others were protected, she was not. She had to die before they found her partner digimon, whoever that was.

So what options did she have? Direct assault was out, sneaking in was impossible. Then again...

Night watch... if they were being practical, they'd have at least three shifts, probably more. So, wait for the shift to change, hope they get distracted for a moment with talking or some such, then take the opportunity to slip in. A quick claw to the throat was all it would take, and then it didn't matter what happened. Live or die, she would have fulfilled her mission.

"_Gatomon_."

She readied her claws and spun around into a defensive pose instinctively before she recognized the voice. Wizardmon. Of all the...

"Damn it, don't _do_ that... sneaking up on me, this close to the children..."

Gatomon shifted back and moved away from the cave. Her voice was at a whisper and she was downwind, but even that wasn't enough to satisfy her. Absolute stealth was necessary, and she didn't have Wizardmon's talent of disappearing literally into thin air, so she had to depend on her skills instead.

"I apologize, but I wanted to make sure I got your attention before you... attempted anything."

"Tch... I can't do anything here. The kids are too secure. I can't sneak in and I'm not strong enough to fight them all at once."

Gatomon didn't entirely trust Wizardmon... truthfully, she didn't trust anyone, especially in Myotismon's army. Anyone who was more than a grunt usually got their position through treachery and diabolical cunning. Trust was worth more than a small army among their ranks, with the only exception being Myotismon. Nobody ever tried to betray him. Failure meant a fate worse than death, and even success would mean they'd be hunted and hounded by his troops until they were either killed or forced to hide from the entire world to escape.

Still, Wizardmon was more trustworthy than most. He was one of Myotismon's best scouts, and he always reported first to Gatomon with any new findings, which gave her a distinct edge in the competitive world of Myotismon's army. Why he was so loyal to her, she didn't know, but he was and had consistently been so for years. If he was planning on betraying her, it was a rather far-reaching plan to spend so long earning her trust. Hell... most of them had expected the war would be _over_ by now.

"How fortunate... it benefits our position rather nicely."

Gatomon blinked. Benefited their... _what_?

"How does it _benefit_ us? If we can't get to the seventh child-"

"Relax... I've got everything figured out. I'll fix this problem. I simply need to resolve one detail first..."

Gatomon narrowed her eyes. It was rare that Wizardmon hid anything from her, and it drove her paranoia through the roof. However, at the same time she felt that she had to work with him anyway. The risk of betrayal, the chance of success... she was _so_ close to the seventh child. She _couldn't_ lose this chance! Even if she was betrayed, it was worth it for even an opportunity to kill the child. To hell with the risks, nothing else mattered if she could get to this girl!

"What... _detail_ is that?"

"The one on watch... I have a plan, but it will only work on a specific child."

"Right now it's the one with the dog. The night's young, though... he's probably first watch."

"Yamato... I see. Then we wait. We need Taichi, the child with the Agumon for his partner."

Of course, Wizardmon knew them all by name. Being one of their best scouts, he didn't simply settle for knowing faces and tactics. He needed to know _everything_ about the enemy. Names, personalities... anything he could possibly learn. He was good enough that he had been made an independent scout, not under the direct supervision of DemiDevimon _or_ Gatomon, though he reported to the latter regardless.

"Why _him_?"

"Because he knows _one_ thing that the others don't..."

She wouldn't be able to get any more information from him than that. Frustrating, but she'd accept it. As long as his plan worked... she shifted her position around, staying downwind and in the shadows out of view from the entrance of the cave. Now to wait. Wizardmon stayed nearby, though back a ways since he was bigger and therefore easier to spot. Then again, Gatomon had white fur that stood out more in the moonlight, so she wasn't that much better off...

Fortunately, nobody spotted her before the shift change. The blonde kid moved toward the entrance of the cave as... ah-ha. There we are. The kid with the Agumon... Gatomon turned to nudge Wizardmon awake, only to find her was already up and moving. He floated up into the branches of the trees a ways to get a better view and confirm it was the right child before coming back down.

"Alright, it is time, then... I am going to use my magic to mask you from view. Then I will distract the child and his digimon while you sneak in. However, bear in mind that the cloak will hide you only until strike, so you cannot risk targeting more than one child."

Gatomon nodded and Wizardmon grinned beneath his cloak. Target only Hikari... good. Then they would all be safe. He simply needed her to draw near to the girl, as close as possible...

Quickly casting his aura of invisibility on Gatomon, Wizardmon then floated up again, ascending toward the mouth of the cave and into open view ahead of Taichi. He'd be spotted instantly, of course, but that didn't matter... Taichi didn't attack immediately, as he obviously didn't know what to make of this. He didn't recognize Wizardmon on sight, and it was irrational for one of Myotismon's minions to approach them so openly... so who _was_ this guy then?

"Who are _you_?"

Not attacking, but it was clear from their stances that Taichi and Agumon were both ready to jump into a fight if they felt even remotely threatened.

"Apologies for not contacting you sooner. My name is Wizardmon."

"For not- wait... I know your voice..."

Wizardmon's eyes flicked to one side as he glimpsed Gatomon entering the cave, invisible to all eyes except his own. He didn't fail to notice her own eyes glance back at him, noticing what he was doing, wondering what he was up to, but it didn't matter. She only needed a few seconds to get to the girl, even if this was a trap.

"Yes... I came to offer you my assistance. I would have preferred to do so at a more ideal time of day, but you understand how difficult it can be to stay out of trouble with Myotismon keeping watch everywhere. I can't always choose time and place..."

Taichi nodded and both he and Agumon relaxed. It was perhaps a mistake to leave themselves open, but this digimon had saved his life before. The risks in going against Myotismon were severe, so he couldn't have done that lightly. It was unlikely then that he was going to betray them _now_.

"Why did you come here, though? How can you assist us?"

"You have a new child in your team, but she still needs a partner. I'm here to help you locate that digimon."

Wizardmon could see the silhouette of Gatomon was moving deeper into the cave, slowly nearing her target. She had been forced to slow down when one of the digimon almost awoke. She was only invisible, not impossible to hear or smell, so she had to move carefully and not too close to any of the digimon in the cave, or else they might be woken by her presence. The girl was at the back of the cave, next to the girl with a Palmon for a partner. That would be a problem, since the plant could catch her with her vines... once she got close, she would have to strike quickly.

"What? You know how to find Hikari's partner?"

"I do. In fact..."

His yes shifted up as Gatomon drew close to the girl, almost close enough...

"...she's already in the cave."

Taichi and Agumon spun around in unison just in time to see the explosion from light from Hikari's digivice as Gatomon stood ready to make the kill. Okay, so DemiDevimon was right... Wizardmon loved making a dramatic entrance.

Of course, it wouldn't be more than a few seconds before everyone was awake and up, save Hikari who was still seated due to her injury. At the same time, Gatomon went down, and she went down _hard_. Twisting suddenly, she drove her claws into the wall, digging into the stone and tearing twin marks in the wall...

Then she screamed. In her feline voice, it turned into a screech... an unearthly shriek loud and violent enough to wake the dead, and to blur the lines between the dead and the living. Between the light and the scream, everyone would be too stunned by their sudden waking to even be able to react, save for Hikari. As soon as she opened her eyes, her mind returned to a familiar place, dark and forsaken... Katsu...

"**_NO! _GET _AWAY_ FROM ME!"**

She tore a large chunk of rock from the wall and threw it across to the opposite wall where Wizardmon had already arrived, deflecting it from landing anywhere near any of the children. She lashed out, tearing lines in the wall as Hikari ducked back and was pulled away by Mimi and Palmon. She shrieked again, slamming her claws down onto the floor and tearing another pair of lines in the solid stone.

"**SHUT UP! SHUT _UP!_ GET OUT! GET OUT OF MY _MIND!_"**

As she attempted to lash out again, Wizardmon seized her, forcing her into a tight hug where she was unable to flail about and potentially endanger the children. Instead, her claws would dig into his back, cutting marks in his body and injuring him, though he refused to let himself flinch away and release her.

"**OUT! GET HIM _OUT!_ I can't- I'm not- I- make... MAKE IT STOP! MAKE HIM _LEAVE! GET HIM OUT OF MY MIND!_"**

Wizardmon grunted and gritted his teeth, forcing himself to endure the pain as her claws dug deeper into his back. The screeching began again then as she screamed into his cloak, though it only barely muffled the sound of the pain. She shrieked as long as her breath could hold, until it slowly worked itself down to a strained roar, a suffocated growl, and then at last... a coughing sob as she struggled to catch her breath even as her body shook from the pain that echoed through every nerve and fiber of her body.

"**Please... please... make him go... I can't..."**

By now the digidestined were barely able to gather their wits and figure out what the hell was going on. Gatomon... they knew her, an agent of Myotismon, but now... she was near Hikari, and then the light, the digivice... what the _hell_ happened?

While Yamato and Koushiro turned to Taichi for answers, Hikari slowly approached the duo kneeling near her. The feline... that pain, she'd seen it before. Not the same kind, but it ran so deep... to the very core of her being, just like Katsu. It was a death-pain... a torment harsh enough to destroy most people, even as only a memory.

As Hikari got close enough to reach out to touch them, her digivice lit up again. Gatomon screeched and jumped away, tumbling and rolling to one side in an undignified heap, no thought given to anything except getting away from the girl that tormented her mind, that forced to the surface everything that had been buried...

"**NO! STAY AWAY! DON'T MAKE ME REMEMBER!"**

Her voice did not waver, even though it was strained by the sobs and tears that ripped through her again and again like each memory, each lash and mark that had been laid on her... memories long buried too deep to feel until this girl had dragged them to the surface once more...

Hikari braced herself. This pain... no. She couldn't leave it. Though she would likely regret doing so, she moved after the feline, closing the gap again as the digimon stumbled back, trying to get away even as she struggled to stay on her feet. As Hikari moved up to her she lashed out again, swinging her arms and claws wildly, trying to scare the girl away, though it did little to help... Hikari was determined to get close, even if it endangered her life.

"**Don't... don't put me through that again! I can't forget, I...! I can't... please... just... just let me forget... I don't want to..."**

She crumpled to her knees as Hikari knelt down beside her. Gatomon's struggle was momentary and weak, barely able to even attempt to push her away as the girl pulled her into another hug. For a moment she very nearly grabbed her and dug her claws into the child's back as she had done with Wizardmon before, but... no. She wouldn't. She _couldn't_ hurt this girl, even if she wanted to, and... she didn't. She would never want to harm her. This child... the seventh... she was...

Unable to fight – unable to do anything at all – Gatomon's body went limp, trembling with each sob, flinching and convulsing with each painful lash in her memory. Time didn't take it away... even now she could feel her master's whip on her back, her face... her body may have recovered and most of the physical marks may have faded, but the scars in her memories were infinitely worse...

* * *

"Gatomon... I do not know why, but she was separated from the other digimon companions. She grew up isolated, alone..."

Wizardmon muttered, kneeling by one of the cave walls as he spoke to the children who were now gathered around him. To one side sat Hikari with Gatomon curled up tightly in her lap, wrapped up in her own arms and tail as if to try to shield herself from the world as Wizardmon recalled bits and pieces of his knowledge of her past...

"She was found by Myotismon when she was still young, and he... 'recruited' her. Like many of his chosen followers, she was given no choice, and resisastance was... _trained_ out of her. It begins with the whip and claw... and grows far worse. For your sakes, I will not speak of his more severe punishments..."

Nobody spoke. They knew pain, they were each haunted by their own memories of the past, but none of them had endured anything like _this_. Even as Hikari gently petted Gatomon's back it would make the feline tremble, even that slight touch bringing back memories of the beatings, some so severe she was on some days convinced that she would not live to see the dawn.

"She wasn't the only one... many digimon of 'potential' were forcibly dragged into his army and made to serve. Most were driven insane, turned into mindless killing machines. A few endured and grew stronger... evolving to more powerful forms. Gatomon is one such example... as is Phantomon."

"_Phantomon?_"

Wizardmon only nodded. Taichi could scarcely believe it, nor could any of the other children. That digimon... he was by far Myotismon's most savage and loyal general. To think he was tortured and abused as Gatomon was, and yet could become like _that_...

"_His_ torture was even worse. Countless other Bakemon perished under the punishment, but he... he forced himself to endure, to prove his strength... he _mocked_ Myotismon, taunted and goaded him to worsen the treatment, again and again, simply to prove he could handle it. In time he evolved to his current state and forever proved his strength to Myotismon. Now he's just a shadow of a digimon... his heart and soul have been so completely torn that there's nothing left in him except an unwavering loyalty and devotion... every fight, every moment of his existence serves no purpose except as another opportunity to prove his strength and loyalty to his master."

Hikari's eyes drifted across the tired faces of her comrades as she continued to slowly stroke her companion's fur. So it wasn't just them... on both sides of the war there was pain... the digidestined, Katsu, Phantomon... _everyone_ was torn and tormented. Every facet of the war that revealed itself only served to worsen the image of what they were facing. Myotismon wasn't just a conquering digimon... he was a true demon, the worst being Hikari could even imagine existing. And to think the Hunters wanted _peace_ with this being. Peace? That may be worse than the war. Under his heel... such a world wouldn't just be dire, it would be a true hell on earth.

"I swore many years ago to take care of Gatomon and help her find the one she was searching for... she served Myotismon, so I served him as well, waiting for the day that the final child was revealed so that I could unite them at last."

Gatomon peeked out to glance at Wizardmon, pain and gratitude reflected in her gaze. He had set her free from that monster's control, but at a high price. She was supposed to be Hikari's protector, but what good she would be like this... she could barely even think about trying to confront Myotismon now. He terrified her... every memory of his past abuses tormented her mind, and as long as he lived she would know no true peace.

"However... my mission is not yet finished."

Wizardmon slowly stood, grunting from the pain of the wounds that slowly subsided. Nothing too severe... he would heal soon enough. In any case, they would prove to be more useful than harmful in the long run, so he wanted to get back to Myotismon well before they healed up.

"Wait, you can't travel in that condition."

Jou stood to stop him, but Wizardmon quickly waved him off. No, he had to do this. For the digidestined, they needed to recover to be safe. For him, the opposite was true. His injuries would be the very thing to keep him alive.

"I have to. I still have to help recover Hikari's crest, which means returning to Myotismon... with these injuries I can claim I was attacked by Gatomon when she betrayed him and joined you. It will keep me in his good graces, and allow me to stay close enough to potentially steal her crest back, in time."

"You _know_ how dangerous that is."

"Yes, I do... but are you really one to talk about _danger_?"

Wizardmon's gaze shifted to Taichi. Yes, he knew this group well... he had learned quite a bit about them from a great many sources, and he knew full well the roles most of them played. Taichi's love affair with danger was no mystery to anyone who knew him. But such was the nature of his role... if he didn't take to such things as well as he did then he couldn't be a leader for the chosen children. Danger was their lives. They had to have someone fearless to lead the charge.

"I will do what I must. _All_ of the children, digimon, and crests must be united if _either_ of our worlds are to know peace. Fortunately, I can aid you in this regard."

Wizardmon reached into his cloak then, turning to Mimi and extending his hand to offer her something rather unexpected... the Crest of Purity.

"This is yours, I believe."

Mimi practically jumped to her feet, along with a good half of the team. As soon as she was on her feet the crest began to glow like all of the others. Mimi would pull her tag out from under her shirt as the crest took to the air and moved before her. Soon enough the crest had taken its place inside the tag and bonded to it.

For a moment Mimi simply stood silent, stunned by this sudden development. Just like that they had gotten a new digimon partner and another crest... only one more to locate, and then they would go after Myotismon to liberate the final one from his control.

"But how did you know it belonged to Mimi?"

Koushiro was skeptical... usually they only learned the owner of a crest after they obtained it, but Wizardmon seemed to know in advance. Where could he have gotten that knowledge...?

"Because I found it in the desert, inside the lily blossom atop a gigantic cactus."

What.

"A gigantic... cactus."

"At least twenty stories tall."

_What._

Wizardmon quickly noticed the looks he was getting from everyone in the group, Gatomon included. If not for the fact they trusted him and he had just brought them two absolutely invaluable additions to their war effort, they would have thought he was lying... or maybe high.

"Don't look at me like that. I'm not the one who decided where to hide those things."

Fair enough... and the explanation made sense, given Mimi's partner. It stood to reason that the one with the cactus for a partner would be the one who's crest was found one one, but still... a _twenty-story tall cactus_?

While the children stood silent and mulled over the matter, Wizardmon turned to Taichi and motioned back to the entrance of the cave.

"It's time for me to go. You should return to your watch... and you all need to rest. You still have one crest left to find, and Myotismon will not make it easy."

With that he headed to the exit, escorted out by Taichi and Agumon while the rest of the team took his advice and prepared to settle in to go back to sleep. He would stop just outside the cave and turn back to face Taichi, glancing aside to make sure none of the other children followed them out before speaking.

"Taichi... I would hear your thoughts on this conflict. You are quite familiar with Myotismon and his methods by now. I have no doubt you have considered what sort of problems might be caused by having Hikari's identity known."

Taichi gave a sideways glance to Agumon, who knew well what he was thinking. Wizardmon was right... he'd discussed the potential problems with Yamato and Koushiro, even going so far as to decide that the former would be made the team leader if things got bad enough.

"He'll go after our families and friends to try to draw us out. Especially Hikari's... which means _mine_."

Wizardmon nodded.

"And if that happens, are you prepared for it?"

"No... if that happens, I told Yamato he'll have to take over as team leader since I don't know if I can be trusted to make the right choices. But that was before we found out about Yamato's dad..."

"Don't fear for Masaharu. He's more safe than you realize."

"If you say so... assuming Myotismon doesn't- wait... how do you know his name?"

Suddenly Taichi was tense again. Everything Wizardmon had said before implied he was an independent force in the war, determined to help Gatomon and the digidestined due to his own sense of justice. However, now it was clear he knew a little too much for that to be true.

"I do not fight alone, Taichi. Everybody in this war has friends or allies who are supporting them, keeping them alive... save one. And even _he_ has people on his side who think they're his friends, not realizing what he really is."

"Myotismon."

Wizardmon closed his eyes, shaking his head lightly. His hand trembled slightly as he thought back, remembering the moment that he first discovered this person, the only being he feared...

"No. He is the only one in this war that may very well be _worse_ than Myotismon."

"_Worse?_"

Was that even possible? Myotismon was a monster without morals or conscience, who was willing to do anything to anyone with no thought for anything except his own power. His potential for evil was limitless – how could somebody possibly be worse than _that_?

"Myotismon is merely evil. He would destroy every good thing in both worlds if he were to have his way, but such is his nature. Any truly evil being can commit atrocities without remorse. The other... he is worse for the fact that he is _not_ evil. He feels remorse, regret, guilt... yet he is willing to commit acts that are equally atrocious, knowing full-well what sort of monster it makes him. Evil performed in the name of good is twice as abhorrent as evil performed for its own sake."

Taichi was silent, unable to even formulate a response to that. What that meant for the 'other' that Wizardmon spoke of was bad, but it was worse for what it could mean for the digidestined. How many times had they done 'what was necessary' to win the war, shrugging off dangerous or questionable acts because of how they helped their cause? True, they hadn't committed any acts that were truly evil, but it was a slow slide... how long would it take for them, inching down that road, before they eventually became as bad as Myotismon in the methods they employed?

"Do not fear Myotismon. He is one of the evils of the digital world that you were chosen to defeat, and I do not doubt that you will inevitably overcome him in time. But fear yourselves... fear your own power, and what acts you can commit in the name of heroism. The greatest threat to good is not those who fight to destroy it, but those who fight to _protect_ it."

Taichi nodded. So what about _him_? Was he a threat to himself? A threat to the whole world? How could he avoid that slow fall when the war pushed him and all his friends to fight as mercilessly as their enemies did? Their choices seemed to be defeat or compromise, and from what Wizardmon said the latter seemed to be worse... so how could they win without becoming monsters like their enemies were?

Wizardmon turned to leave then, casting his magic to turn himself invisible before quietly slipping away into the wind. He didn't have any answers for the children, only a warning. Ultimately, their fate was their own, and they would have to choose each day which path they would choose. There was no way to be truly immune to the dangers of that slow descent. It was a battle they would have to fight every day. All he could do was warn them, make them aware of the fight so that they could maintain their vigil against the potential evil within their own hearts.


	11. Memories

A/N: Just to add a bit of clarification to my previous note, I'm not _literally_ warring against myself. I meant that I was fighting the shipping war in my story without a bias toward one side or the other. As mentioned, I already know how it's going to turn out, so there's no risk of things going south... well, no more than I make them go on purpose, anyway. ^_^

Regarding the second review by guest, I'm going to, uncharacteristically, actually answer a question that could serve as a potential spoiler: Yes. There is _definitely_ is a connection... and that's all you're getting. I'll let you figure out the details yourself. And yes, I know... I'm evil. :P

Now, time for a bit of a detour from the main plot so we can explore a few more details of the convoluted past...

Chapter 11: Memories

**I've never tried to block out the memories of the past, even though some are painful. I don't understand people who hide from their past. Everything you live through helps make you the person you are now.**

The digidestined expected that immediately following the meeting with Wizardmon the hunt for them would begin in full. However, much to their surprise the assault didn't come. Myotismon's armies were still on the move in both worlds, but few of them went in pursuit of the children, and those that did seemed to have little interest in actually catching them.

The lack of interest from Myotismon was suspicious, doubly so because of the reports they picked up from the human world after the first week. The Hunters seemed to have gained an advantage and had begun pushing his armies back, even going so far as to nearly reclaim one of the lost sectors, though they would not be able to reactivate any of the barriers before they were pushed back out.

Whatever was happening, the children had no way of knowing, but they would take the opportunity to continue the search for the final crest regardless. It would be another week before they finally received a communique from Datamon warning them to flee. Something had happened, and just like that the enemy was on the move, the entirety of Myotismon's digital world army moving in unison to pursue the children.

The first members of the pursuit army caught up to them within two days. They fell quickly, but more inevitably came. Soon enough the children found themselves fighting off at least a dozen scouts every day.

All the while, Myotismon's main army would continue moving in slow pursuit of the children, gathering more forces that were funneled in from the human world while the advance scouts pointed the way for them. Rather than attempt to assault the children with all of his fastest armies right off the bat, he chose a much more methodical approach. His army couldn't match the children in terms of speed, but its sheer size allowed it to cover an enormously wide area in pursuit of the children, making it impossible to double back and slip by unnoticed.

Compared to what they were used to seeing in the human world, it was far less vicious and more pragmatic than the enemy's normal tactics. Speaking practically, the children didn't have an unlimited amount of space to flee in. Sooner or later they would be driven to the sea and surrounded, and then it would be over. It also limited their capacity to search for the final crest. If the crest was hidden somewhere in the lands behind them then it was out of their reach unless they found some way out of this mess.

To make things worse, the children also lost contact with the human world in this time. They were able to pick up a few public reports here and there, but nothing to let them know what was really happening. From what they read, it almost seemed as if the war had fallen into a lull, which would almost make sense considering that the majority of Myotismon's army was pursuing them in the digital world. However, given the previous reports about the Hunters' successes it seemed odd that they didn't try anything in this time to push back harder. It was even more suspicious for the fact that the sudden communication blackout came just as the pursuit began.

Something was happening, and more than just the events surrounding Hikari and Gatomon joining the team... things were out of order. They couldn't identify the cause yet, but the children knew that something had changed with the enemy and with the war as a whole. They needed to find out what as soon as possible, for anything that led to a change in Myotismon's objectives and tactics would require a change in the children's response. However, they would have to wait until after they escaped Myotismon's army before they could try to investigate.

As far as the chase was concerned, things were looking fairly grim. They were rapidly running out of space and the army was starting to close in. They had maybe two more days before they would be forced to the sea and trapped. Fleeing across the ocean was impossible. Even if they mounted the backs of all their aerial and aquatic digimon, they had nowhere to go. Their partners didn't have the endurance to cross a body of water that massive. They would run out of strength long before finding a place to rest.

They needed a miracle, and fortunately they received one just as they were pushed to their limit. A mere day before they were to run out of land, Koushiro was contacted by an unexpected source whom the team hadn't heard from in quite some time – Gennai.

"Where have you been? After we lost contact with you..."

"I've had to hide a bit to keep from getting caught. Myotismon and others have been looking for me, trying to intercept my transmissions before they got to you. Even now I'm in danger. I can't talk long, but I can still help you."

"We could use it. We're just about out of places to run."

"Not quite. I have an old friend waiting to help you out. I'm sending coordinates for a spot on the coast. Go there, and he'll take you to safety."

"An old friend?"

Taichi stepped into the conversation, looking over Koushiro's shoulder as others watched from the sides. They were all exhausted... even though they had only slightly picked up their pace from their normal travel speed, the constant knowledge that they were being hunted and they had no chance to stop and rest made the whole ordeal that much more tiring.

"Whamon."

Koushiro would answer just before Gennai did, having already pieced it together in his head. A friend from the sea who could transport them all to safety... there weren't a lot of possibilities for that one.

"Indeed. He'll be taking you all back to File Island, where you should be safe until we can come up with a plan to counter Myotismon."

"Are you sure we'll be safe there?"

Yamato this time, bringing up the biggest question of Gennai's plan.

"File Island is pretty small. We won't have much room to escape if Myotismon sends anyone to follow us."

"That's not a problem. Once you get close enough he won't be able to track you, and then you can go into hiding to escape even if he manages to follow you."

"That's part of File Island's design, isn't it?"

Nobody else knew what Koushiro was talking about, or had even suspected what he'd long since realized about File Island and its nature. There was a reason it was chosen as the place for them to first be called to the digital world to meet their partners...

"Astute as ever. File Island was originally created to serve as a sort of 'demo' of the digital world, a testing and training ground for the digidestined, whoever they would be."

"That's the reason for all the anomalies. The beach phone booths, the desert full of power lines... the factory with looping assembly line. Since they're all just part of a demo, they're not designed to actually _do_ anything."

"Quite. But they also provide an additional advantage. Their nature is self-contained. They continue looping through their personal cycles in a way that's unnatural to the digital world. That means that they also disrupt most outside attempts to scan in, allowing you all to hide out there with ease. Unfortunately, it will also mean that you won't be able to connect out to the human world unless you're in one of a select few places."

"We can't complain. It gets us out of this mess, so we'll deal with it."

Taichi glanced to Koushiro, who nodded. He didn't like the idea of being isolated from contact with the human world for any period of time, but it was necessary for now, so he'd handle it somehow.

"I'll send you a map of locations where you can reestablish communication. I'll contact you again after you get there. Once you're off of Server it will be easier to elude Myotismon."

"Understood. Thank you."

* * *

The next day the group made for the coast where Whamon waited for them. It had been quite a while since they last saw him, so it was good to see that he was still okay. They had met quite a few digimon over the years and not all of them had survived being friends with the digidestined, to the point that they tended to avoid populated areas to keep from potentially drawing their enemies' attention to them.

The trip to File Island was short and uneventful compared to when they first left, years ago. There was no sign of pursuit, which was good for their friend. Once they had reached their destination they knew Whamon would be safe since he could dive far deeper than any of Myotismon's pursuit digimon, allowing him to escape any enemies that may try to hunt him.

When they reached their destination and Hikari stepped off of Whamon to the edge of the cliff, she felt as if she were stepping into a place of myth. File Island... this was where it all began. Everything that had happened between the two worlds started here. The silence that hung over her companions wasn't lost on her, either... they were stepping into their own past as well, and their memories of this place weren't all pleasant.

A single glance across their faces was enough to know what they were all thinking. Taichi and Jou sat, lost in thought. Yamato stood silent, apart from the others, his expression stern and hard to cover whatever he felt. Sora was much less opaque, the hint of tears forming in her eyes as she sat with the others, remembering... Koushiro was nearby, lost in his computer work, as always, checking the map to plan their course even though they all knew the island well enough that they didn't need it. Doubtful he needed to plan so much, but it was as much to distract himself as to actually help the group. And Mimi... she stood apart from the others, slightly ahead of the group, staring up and ahead at the most distinct landmark that was visible on the island... the mountain. Infinity Mountain. The place where everything changed.

"From where we are, the closest site where we can reestablish communication with Gennai is down the coast a ways, at an open field near Primary Village."

Hikari moved near where Koushiro sat, looking over his shoulder at the map of the island and all the places they could go to connect to the network. He was right about the site near Primary Village being the closest one, but it was also a rather awkward choice as it was out in the middle of an open field, away from anything, including cover. There was a far better choice a little further away, but Hikari didn't need an explanation to know why he didn't pick that one...

The mountain in the center of the island covered what was by far the largest connection site. It was also much more secure since they would likely be able to find caves to hide in at the base of it. However, the chances of the team actually going there given what happened there three years ago...

"Gatomon, let's go."

Hikari motioned to her partner, who quickly jumped up on her to cling to her good shoulder as she started toward the mountain. It wouldn't take more than a few seconds for the others to realize she wasn't heading toward Primary Village, and given that she had just looked at the map it was clearly not by accident.

"Hikari, what are you doing?"

She stopped, looking back over her shoulder as he brother spoke, catching Gatomon's expression in the process. She already knew what Hikari was thinking... she had become extremely familiar with the girl's mind and personality recently. Over the last few weeks they had talked almost non-stop about anything and everything, from the condition of the war and the plans of Myotismon and Katsu to their favorite foods, their lives outside of the war... literally whatever came to mind. They were three years behind the rest of the team in getting to know each other, but they were catching up quickly. And as an added bonus, it distracted Gatomon from thinking about her own past, which kept her calmer than silence would.

"Detour. I'll join you all at Primary Village later."

"It's too dangerous to go off on your own."

Hikari glanced over to Yamato and raised an eyebrow. Really? He was worried about _her_? In a place like _this_?

"Gatomon may not be as big as most, but she's still an adult. She's more than strong enough to protect me, and there are barely any hostile digimon on this island in the first place."

Silence. They couldn't argue with her logic and they all knew it. She knew they didn't like dividing the team, even for a short time, but ultimately that was there choice, not hers. They were free to follow her if they wanted... almost all of Infinity Mountain was inside a connection zone, so it would be a good place to set up camp, but they were simply unwilling to go back there.

The team's attention turned to Mimi then, who had taken a few steps to move to Hikari's side.

"I'll go with you. Your arm is still injured. You could use some help."

Mimi turned back to face the group, her eyes zeroing in on Sora, who immediately averted her gaze. She knew without a word what the girl wanted to ask, and it wasn't unreasonable... Birdramon was one of the faster digimon in their group, and she could also fly, which would help them to get to the top of the mountain much faster. Plus, having people who knew the island with her would help Hikari in any areas where they had to travel on foot and help her make faster time so she could leave and rejoin the team that much sooner.

Sighing, Sora would step forward, eyes still downcast. She didn't want to go back there... didn't want to remember... but it was the right thing to do. Had they only done the right thing the last time they were there, then...

"I'll go too. We'll go faster if we fly, and it's good to stick together."

The complete lack of enthusiasm in her voice was lost on no one, but nobody would bring it up either. Instead Koushiro would simply begin packing up his computer as he prepared to head out.

"Understood. We'll travel to Primary Village and set up camp. You can join us as soon as you're done with your other business. However, we need to leave now. There's no telling when Gennai will contact us, and I want to be set up before then so we don't miss it."

The digidestined would all give their acknowledgments and temporary farewells, the whole scene being far more awkward than anyone cared to admit. Koushiro was the only one thinking of their mission right then. Everyone else was stuck remembering the past while trying to pretend they weren't.

Mimi started toward the mountain on foot, leading the way for the two other girls. They would fly eventually, but first she wanted to talk to the girls in private before they took to the air. She'd wait until they were far enough away from the guys so as to not be heard, then she would stop and speak as Hikari passed on one side.

"Hikari... why do you want to go to Infinity Mountain?"

Hikari stopped, staring ahead as her partner nuzzled into her shoulder. The subject of Takeru and his fate wasn't traumatizing for the digimon as many other things were, but she still understood the feeling that the others must have had. Even mentioning it was painful. To go back there and see it first hand... it spoke volumes of the self-control these children must have had.

"You know there's nothing back there. Everything that happened... it happened _three years_ ago. Even if anything was left after the battle, it would be gone by now."

"It's not about that."

She turned back to face the others, eyes meeting Sora's, which quickly averted, before turning to Mimi again.

"I need to understand... and I feel like I won't until I get back there and see it for myself."

"Understand _what_?"

"Everything. This whole war... did you ever stop and think that if the fight had gone differently then everything else would have too? Everything that's happened in the last three years... it all started there. I have to know why. Why was there even a digimon like him here, on the 'training' island that was made for the digidestined? What did he hope to gain by opening a rift to our world? Etemon and Myotismon... they both want power. Conquest. They're easy to figure out. But Devimon... if he wanted to rule, why start _here_? And why go to _our_ world? You told me about the black gears. They could control digimon, but not humans, or else he would have used them on all of you. He could have taken over more in _this_ world, but he opened the rift anyway. Haven't you ever asked _why_?"

The silence that Hikari got in response was answer enough for her. Of course they didn't. They didn't want to. That would require remembering what happened, what they did... both their guilt and their loss. They wanted to forget their past, not re-live it.

"I didn't either. Not until I got back here. I never thought I'd actually come back and have a chance to see it for myself. But now... we're going back to Server eventually, and this may be my only chance. I _have_ to go there now. Even if I don't find anything, I have to at least try."

There was a momentary pause before Sora would step forward, digivice in hand as she motioned to her partner to stand in the middle of the group.

"Alright... if it's that important, then lets go."

Sora had still been holding on to the slim hope that they might be able to discourage Hikari from making this trip, but now it was clearly impossible. It was more than minor curiosity that drove her. She had clear reasons for making this trip and she was set on her course, so there was no stopping her. She was as stubborn as her brother sometimes... might as well help and get it over with as soon as they could, then.

In a few seconds Biyomon had evolved to her adult form and Sora was mounted on the back of her neck while the two other girls held on to her legs along with their partners. Next stop, Infinity Mountain...

It would take a while to get from the shore to the mountain at the heart of the island, but it wouldn't be an excruciatingly long trip, and they would be able to reach it without needing to stop to rest halfway. Once they arrived, however, Hikari and Gatomon would go to the peak alone. Mimi, Palmon, and even Sora would be dropped off at the base of the mountain before Birdramon took the other two to the peak and then returned to her human companion. With their digivices they could stay in contact, so Hikari could call for a pick up once she was ready to leave, and none of the others wanted to wait for her in the same place where the battle took place. The base of the mountain was already close enough as far as they were concerned.

Hikari didn't know what she expected to find up there, which was fortunate as it meant she wouldn't be disappointed. The peak was desolate. The remnants of the fight were visible in the ashes that marked the scorched stones around her. Moving to one end of the peak, she saw there something that resembled ruins, with broken bricks scattered about. Most of them had apparently been blown off the side of the mountain, leaving only a handful, barely enough to even make out what kind of building it was originally supposed to be.

Ruins and death. That was it. Whatever made this site special, it was long since forgotten in the wake of the battle between the angel and the demon. Now it was just a cold, windswept grave...

"This is a surprise..."

Hikari froze just as she was preparing to turn away from the ruins. Gatomon quickly jumped off her shoulder and moved ahead of her to stand between her and the large, green-skinned figure that emerged from the most intact section of the rubble.

"Of all the faces I expected to visit here, I didn't expect a stranger."

"Who are _you_?"

Gatomon's fur stood up and she hissed even as Hikari spoke. She didn't recognize this digimon, but she'd spent long enough around darkness to know it when she saw it. It was like a stench that hung on those that embraced it, and this one... he reeked of it.

"I'm what's left. Not sure if that means I'm the most or the _least_ fortunate."

Though Gatomon's hostility and Hikari's wariness would remain, they would both relax slightly at his words, if only from the simple confusion of it. This level of philosophy and introspection wasn't what they had come to expect from dark digimon, and certainly not from hostile ones.

"I'm Ogremon, the last servant of Devimon. Maybe the _only_ one, if you don't count all the digimon he controlled with the black gears."

"Ogremon... Hikari, did any of the others mention this digimon before?"

Gatomon would glance back to her partner, but only long enough to catch a glimpse of her face, then her gaze would return to the green-skinned brute ahead of her. She wasn't going to risk taking her eyes off him long enough to give him a chance to attack, if that's what he was planning.

"No... they only told me about general events before the fight. They never named any specific digimon... what are you doing here?"

Hikari muttered, glancing aside to the ruins in confusion. It was strange to see anyone up here at all considering the utter desolation of this place. If he were trying to build a new fortress to replace Devimon, that was one thing, but he wasn't. He was just... living here. Why? That made no sense...

"Protecting the peak. Making sure nobody tries to take over and make this place their home."

"Why?"

"Because it's Devimon's wish. He said this was a place of memory. A place that remembered the world and the way it was before."

Hikari's eyes went slightly wide. There. She didn't know what it was, but her mind caught something in Ogremon's words that hinted at what she sought. Devimon's desires, his reasoning, his innermost thoughts... things nobody knew except this one, his last surviving minion. All pieces of the answer to her great question... why?

"Before _what_?"

"I don't know. He never told me, and I never asked. I'm just a grunt, I do what I'm told."

"A grunt who stays to protect this peak even after his master is _dead_?"

"Devimon wasn't my master. I was his servant."

"How is that any different?"

"Simple. One is forced to serve, the other isn't."

Hikari paused, looking over this peculiar figure several times. For one who claimed to be a grunt, he seemed unusually thoughtful about things that most would consider trivial. Hikari wondered if that was because he'd had so long to think about it, or because he simply had so much of a different perspective from anyone she knew.

"Why would you serve Devimon willingly? What did he offer you?"

Ogremon laughed then, suddenly and unexpectedly. It was enough to catch even Gatomon off guard. She'd seen plenty of grunts in her own time, both the willing and unwilling servants of Myotismon, but this guy... he wasn't like any of them. Unfortunately, she didn't know what he _was_ like, either...

"You can't _buy_ me, little girl. Before Devimon, all I cared about was fighting. Day in, day out... I didn't need a reason to fight. I just loved it, so I did it whenever I could."

"So then, what changed?"

It was Ogremon's turn to pause. Hikari knew that look... memory. Recollection of things past... perhaps things he would rather forget? But no, that wasn't a look of regret or guilt. It was subtly different... he was... pensive? It was once again strange to see that sort of mood expressed by a violent grunt that claimed to care about nothing except fighting...

"Time, I guess... fighting is fun, especially with a rival like Leomon, but it gets old like everything else after enough years. Eventually I started wondering... was my destiny to just fight forever, or was there something more than that?"

"And that's when you met Devimon..."

Ogremon turned and took a few steps back toward the ruins, seating himself on one of the larger and more intact pieces of debris. By now Gatomon had settled down, fairly confident that this digimon wasn't going to try to attack them, though she wasn't sure why.

"You call him Devimon, but I knew him by a lot of other names before that. DemiDevimon, Pagumon, Zurumon..."

"You were there when he _hatched_?"

Gatomon cut in suddenly. From her experience, most evil digimon were previously good ones that had become corrupted by some manner of dark power or virus. She'd expected the same was true of Devimon, from the stories she heard. Perhaps an Angemon who fell to evil? But if Ogremon was speaking the truth, it meant Devimon was as he was from the very beginning.

"I found his egg in the wilderness. I was surprised since it wasn't in Primary Village, so I decided to pick it up and take it back there. No point in destroying it, it's no fun to hurt something that can't fight back. But on the way there it hatched and I knew right away why it wasn't with the others. Zurumon was a dark digimon, not welcome among all the other prissy, peace-loving digimon. I knew they wouldn't accept him in Primary Village..."

"So you raised him yourself?"

It was strange for Hikari to imagine that sort of transition. Originally a brute of a fighter, turning into a baby digimon's guardian and protector, and then later his servant?

"I don't know why I cared. He was just a squishy little runt. But there was something about him... I couldn't really explain it, but when I looked at him I knew there was something special there. I'd already fought more digimon than I could count, but only a few of them were more than just a road bump, and every one of those guys had the same thing in common. I can't describe it. I just knew that this guy was destined to be something great."

"And you wanted to be a part of that?"

"I don't know. Maybe? Maybe I just wanted to see something different than all the fighting. Something to answer all those questions floating around in my head. Then he grew up and started talking about things I couldn't wrap my head around. Destiny. The 'world from before'. The nature of the soul. He had plans. Big plans that would change the entire world, so I decided to help. I had nothing else to do except fight, and I wanted to see him succeed, especially after helping him grow up."

How strange it was... even a violent, destructive ogre showed signs of humanity, compassion... familial loyalty that even some humans failed to live up to, and to one that he wasn't even truly related to, no less. The more she saw, the more she learned that heroes were not as light, nor villains as dark, as people might assume. Not _necessarily_, that is... some, like Myotismon, were definitely as dark as people assumed, if not worse.

"So, what about _you_, girl? You know why I'm here, but I haven't gotten a word from you. What'd your kitty-cat friend say? Hikari?"

She froze in place a moment, suddenly anxious, though that feeling would fade quickly. Come to think of it, there was no real reason to be worried. Myotismon already knew her name, and besides that Ogremon had already shown that he wasn't hostile.

"I'm here because I'm looking for answers. I want to know why this whole war started in the first place. Why Devimon did what he did... tried to open a rift to the human world, wanted to destroy the digidestined... just what did he hope to gain?"

"Well, he got everything he wanted. It was never about the rift, or the digidestined. That was just bait, and a backup plan if things went bad."

Hikari paused and blinked. Bait? _What?_ Of all things, that actually created more questions than answers...

"Bait for who, and a backup for _what_? And what do you mean it wasn't about the digidestined? I thought he wanted to destroy them... destroy _us_ so he could conquer the digital world!"

Ogremon stood up, taking a few casual steps forward as he motioned back to the ruins he'd been sitting on.

"It's not complicated, girlie. He didn't care about conquest. He was trying to draw out the digidestined so he could destroy Angemon, and that's just what he did."

"But the black gears..."

"Those were just tools. They didn't even work, according to Devimon."

"They seemed to work pretty _well_ in controlling all those digimon for him..."

"Yeah, but they weren't supposed to. They were made for something else, but he said they were broken or... flawed or something. He said they were just a substitute until he could destroy Angemon and get what he _really_ wanted. And don't ask me what that was, he never told me."

A substitute... but that meant the black gears actually had another, hidden function that they didn't know about, and now it seemed they never would.

"What about the rift?"

"Like I said, bait. The digidestined ran away. Opening a rift lured them back and bam, fight on."

"You also mentioned a backup plan..."

"That was for the runt. It was a way out if the fight got bad. That was my job – if the peak went boom, to make sure the kid didn't get caught in the blast."

_Wait... __**WHAT?!**_

"Takeru is _alive_?!"

Granted, she had suspected that was possible for quite a while, but... not like this. She'd thought that somehow he managed to survive that final battle with Devimon and escape, not that Devimon had deliberately called his... butler, or whatever Ogremon was, to protect him by throwing him through the rift to safety.

For Ogremon's part, he was confused. Hikari's reaction, the shock, meant that she didn't know, despite the fact that she was digidestined.

"...you didn't know? I figured the kid would be with you guys now."

"The digidestined have all believed Takeru's been dead for _three years!_"

Now it was Ogremon's turn to be surprised. That... wasn't part of Devimon's plan. Was it? He spoke a little of what would happen to the digidestined afterward, starting with that boy. He assumed that meant they would all be together, but... maybe not? Maybe the boy came first because he was separate from the rest?

"Enough people used that rift afterward to prove it was safe, and I know he went in. He was supposed to come out on the other end in the human world, safe and sound. That's the last I saw him, though. I figured he'd still be alive... Devimon said he'd survive it."

It was Hikari's turn to be stunned into silence, a rare occurance... everything was different now. The simple battle for their lives that went south had changed its face to reveal something far more complex and perhaps... far more sinister as well. Devimon had set up the whole fight, preparing the stage by convincing the digidestined he was after something that actually meant nothing to him. Then he protected Takeru, one of the children that were supposed to be his mortal enemies, even as he poured all his efforts into destroying that same child's partner. She once assumed that all the conspiracies began with the invasion of the human world by Etemon or Myotismon, but now it was clear they went all the way back to the origin of the war.

The last and worst question, then, was whether Devimon actually wanted this war or if he had an entirely different plan. If the latter, it meant there was potentially a whole other crisis looming somewhere on the horizon, and it was impossible to know what it was since Devimon was dead and his servant knew little to nothing of what the actual plan was.

"Hikari, we should go."

Gatomon finally cut in after an extended silence. They had come for answers, and in some ways they found exactly that. However, they also had more questions, and now they needed to figure out what to do about all this... Hikari simply nodded, face still blank, still too stunned to bring any emotion to her features.

"Do me a favor and don't tell your friends I'm up here. I figure they still hold a grudge, and frankly I'd rather keep trouble off this peak, if you don't mind."

Turning to Ogremon, Hikari would nod again as Gatomon ran back to her and hopped up onto her shoulder again.

"I figure I owe you at least that much for all the answers you gave me... thank you. Maybe we'll meet again after this war is done."

"Maybe so. And maybe next time we could have a good spar. Could use one after all this time sitting around and playing guard duty."

He stepped back into the ruins to hide from view as Hikari moved back to the edge of the peak to call for her pick up. Before long Birdramon would arrive to take her back down to the base of the mountain, and from there the trio of girls and their partners would proceed toward Primary Village to join the others.

Meanwhile, Ogremon emerged from the ruins to stand at the end of the peak and watch them fly away. Interesting girl... not the one he expected to visit, but it was just as well. Her ignorance of the history of File Island made her more curious and more likely to ask questions, which made it much easier for Ogremon to give answers. So... that was finished. At least one of the children now knew truth of what had happened three years ago, and she would put that knowledge to use in the future, as soon as it became relevant.

Devimon's wishes fulfilled, Ogremon could finally leave this place after going to pick up the last remnants of what Devimon had left behind. Three years was a long time to wait, and Ogremon was more than happy to be able to put all of this behind him at last. Time to prepare for the final task he had been given before the fall... he had to make sure everything was in place for when the war ended so that the last of the black gears would end up in the hands of the only one who could use them for their true purpose... Takeru Takaishi.


	12. Contingency

A/N: Wow... okay, this was probably the hardest chapter to write thus far. It's a massive gear shift for me, as we're now getting toward the end of the story. Not to say it's going to wrap up in a couple chapters or anything, it won't. But now instead of building up all the new plot threads, I've started weaving together the ones I already have, and with how many there are going on at once, I had to do a lot of cross-checking with previous chapters, notes, and etc to make sure I got everything exactly right.

But you've all waited long enough for this update... so without further ado, here it is!

Chapter 12: Contingency

**Talent hits a target nobody else can hit; genius hits a target nobody else can see.**

As soon as she rejoined the rest of the team, Hikari made certain to speak to Koushiro about programming something into existence for her – a journal. Koushiro didn't comment about the request, but it was clear he understood that there was something peculiar about it, particularly because nobody mentioned anything being found on the peak. But for whatever reason she needed it, he soon produced one for her... might as well, Gennai hadn't contacted them yet, so he wasn't especially busy.

Hikari then headed toward Primary Village with Gatomon in order to be alone with her thoughts. Everything that Ogremon said... she didn't know when she would be able to investigate it, so she made certain to write down every detail she could recall for future reference. It was yet another addition to the growing list of things that needed doing once the war was over... things the children couldn't tend to now. But all in due time...

Hikari rejoined the team a few hours later to find that they had finally been contacted by Gennai. He had a report on the state of Myotismon's army, and the situation was fairly bleak. A small task force was being sent to pursue them across the ocean while the rest of the army began spreading out to cover as much of the coast as they could. Getting back was going to be hard, if not impossible.

On the bright side, the search for the crest was made marginally better by Gennai's assistance. He had developed a program capable of tracking the final crest and leading the team to it. It required several crest-bearing members of the team to use – the more the better – so it would have been useless before they obtained the Crest of Love. That was slightly comforting for Hikari, because otherwise she would have had to wonder why he didn't find some way to get them the damn thing _sooner_.

At any rate, only one crest left, which meant locating it would be easy, assuming the fake crests didn't interfere with tracking it. But Myotismon already knew that Hikari was with the other children, so it was doubtful he would be using the fakes anymore, especially in the digital world. The hard part was getting back to Server and past the enemy army so they could finally get to the end of their search... they had no means of doing so on their own, and Gennai didn't have enough digimon allies with him to try to challenge Myotismon's army head-on.

First things first, though. After stopping for a quick meal, the digidestined headed away from Primary Village to somewhere that was both more secure and further anywhere that innocents might be harmed if and when they were discovered. Koushiro eventually settled on the factory as their ideal staging area. It was near a contact point, easy to hide in, and had Andromon, a perfect-level digimon defending it who could give them backup if trouble found them.

They arrived early the next morning and spent a couple days there, hiding and periodically contacting Gennai while the enemy task force began scouring the island in search of them. For a while it seemed like they were simply... stuck. They were still getting little to no information from the human world, which Koushiro was almost certain was due to outside interference, and they could find no way through the blockade Myotismon had set up on Server's coast.

It was then that a message would arrive from Datamon: The situation with the war had changed.

* * *

"The change was quite distinct. Following the shift in the Hunter power structure, word was sent through Myotismon's ranks that one of his top-tier commanders had betrayed him, followed by the release of a kill-on-sight order. Then all direct communication from Myotismon to his army ceased."

"Do you know the identity of the traitor?"

Koushiro glanced aside to Hikari and Gatomon, sitting out of view. They had been careful not to mention to anyone that she had joined them, on the off chance that the transmission might be intercepted by Myotismon or Datamon. Myotismon already knew, of course... but that didn't necessarily mean all his followers did. Better to keep it that way, too. She had already been a vital source of intel regarding their enemy's tactics and how to counter them. If they suspected the children knew as much as they did, the enemy would be much more careful, and careful was the opposite of what the children wanted to face. Arrogant and ignorant was always preferable.

"It isn't Phantomon, if that is what you are hoping. It was an adult-level digimon named Gatomon. The commander worked in Myotismon's intelligence division, but there isn't much more information to be obtained. For whatever reason, they made very little use of the network to communicate with their underlings."

Koushiro nodded slowly, playing dumb. He already knew the reasons for that, of course. Gatomon was paranoid about others like DemiDevimon – the voice in most of the audio files – finding out what she was up to and trying to undermine her efforts for the sake of improving his own position in Myotismon's eyes.

"Myotismon reemerged two weeks later – the same time as our last contact, when I warned you of his pursuit. His tactics in both worlds had shifted dramatically, so I logically began scouring his mainframe for whatever might have caused the change."

"I'll assume by the fact that you contacted us that you finally found it?"

"Quite. I located a number of stray data packets located in the same sector of the mainframe that contained the audio recordings I showed you previously. The records had been auto-saved there, then immediately transferred to a more secure sector. Arguably the most secure sector in the entire dark network, save for my own. Most of my time since our last communication has been spent breaking through each of the security firewalls protecting that data. Myotismon was _quite_ intent on keeping it as secret as possible."

Koushiro slowly nodded again, simply waiting, letting the pest run through his normal speech. He liked to gloat about his superiority to Myotismon and his minions, and telling of his brilliant detective work and his grand break-in to the most secure sector of the dark network was one way of doing so. Inevitably he would reach the important part sooner or later, and Koushiro could spare the time to be patient, so he chose to put up with it this time.

"After procuring the data, it was clear why such security was needed. Myotismon has procured a new commander to replace the one who betrayed him. A commander which was recognized by those in Hunter Command – a human – and thus he wished to keep the commander's identity secret."

A _human_? Working for _Myotismon_? Who in their right mind-

"Send us those files!"

Taichi soon interrupted Koushiro's thoughts as he moved around to sit behind Koushiro and watch the screen over his shoulder. Datamon, ever logical, had anticipated the request and began transferring the data immediately. Koushiro ran it through his usual virus-checks, though he was fairly certain that it was all clean. He knew Datamon, and the little worm wouldn't try to backstab them like that... more likely he'd feed them false intel to set them up once he wanted them dead, which wouldn't be until they were in a more advantageous position in the war.

"File. There is only one to send, and it is by far the largest of any of the files I've found. Unfortunately, it contains very little useful intel. The new commander is apparently quite clever and has, for the most part, avoided saying anything that could be used against Myotismon or his armies. However, it is still vital that you identify the new commander immediately so that a strategic response can be given as soon as possible."

Soon enough the file was transferring and the link to Datamon was cut off. Koushiro wasted no time setting it up to play back as the digidestined gathered close around him to listen. Though they would all hear it, Hikari was the closest one, knowing that she was likely the only one who would have any chance of recognizing the voice of Myotismon's new commander...

"Have the children been dealt with?"

"_That doesn't matter. **We** will deal with the children now, they're no longer any of your concern."_

Hikari's face froze in shock... no, not shock. Pure, abject horror. That voice... no. No way. That wasn't even _possible_.

"What- who... who is this?"

"_You already know who I am, Mister Director."_

"What are... what? You're working for _Myotismon_?"

"_No different than you. In the end, we all serve the will of Lord Myotismon."_

_Lord_ Myotismon? That wasn't... no, that was wrong. That wasn't him. His voice, yes, but not his words... his personality, his heart. It was like a machine speaking with a human voice. Physically the same, but underneath there was something different in control.

The playback was suddenly paused by Koushiro, causing Hikari to glance up and quickly realize that the entire team was now watching her, all of them keenly aware of her reaction up to now.

"...Hikari?"

Her eyes moved to meet her brother's, who was watching her with a mix of worry and dread. Worry for her, dread for what her reaction might mean about the voice they were hearing through the computer speakers... the voice of a human child.

"That... that's Katsu's voice."

There were no words. Nobody even dared to open their mouth. Katsu Fang, the most paranoid and obsessively loyal person they had ever met, the one who was willing to do anything to stop Myotismon... was a traitor? How was that even _possible_? And worse, what did that mean for them now?

Hikari pushed the button to continue the play back, ignoring the others for now. She had to keep listening... she had to hear everything that was said. She had to know... why? What happened, and how did things change so suddenly and so completely for the boy she had known?

"So why... are you contacting us? I assumed this was going to be about the treaty, that the radio silence meant you were dealing with the children..."

"_It is. The last child is in the digital world with the others, so Lord Myotismon no longer cares about Odaiba."_

"Then he's ready to negotiate for peace?"

"_No. I called to inform you that the treaty is now void."_

"What?! Why? If Myotismon doesn't care-"

"_He **never** cared. You don't matter, Director, and you never did. The city is still standing because Lord Myotismon doesn't care to destroy it – but he also doesn't care to leave it intact. Lord Myotismon will do whatever he pleases, with no regard for you or your wishes or your city. I'm just contacting you to let you know how things are going to be from now on, so be quiet and listen._

_All restrictions on our armies have been removed, and we're finished pretending that your armies can stand up to ours in a fair fight. If any Hunters attack us, they will die. If the children attempt to flee the digital world and hide in Odaiba, they will die, along with anyone who tries to help them. If you call for help from any national government to reinforce or evacuate the city, they will die, followed shortly by Hunter Command."_

"What the _hell_? After all the times you undercut our authority... you broke _every_ rule to push back the invasion as much as you could! How can you possibly go along with this?!"

"_You're in no position to ask that. You betrayed every promise you ever made just to save your own life."_

"So did _you_! I did what I had to do to save this city – I never joined Myotismon's army!"

"_He wouldn't have accepted you anyway. With how easily you switched sides, you couldn't be trusted to stay loyal. The only thing you were useful for was pacifying the Hunters until the last child was found."_

"Damn you! How long have you been working for that monster?"

"_It doesn't matter. This conversation has gone on long enough, and I've said all I have to say. Goodbye, Director. This is the last contact you will have with us."_

This was impossible. All she had seen... the breakdown in Masaharu's office... everything Hikari knew told her that this couldn't happen. Katsu was no traitor. Everything he ever said and did proved that to her, and the way he spoke in that recording... he sounded hollow, empty... cold in a completely different way from what she used to know. The anger, the pain, the passion... they were gone from his voice. His most defining traits, just _gone_! That sort of thing doesn't just happen...

So what was this? Another ploy? Did he trick even Myotismon? Fool the monster into recruiting him so that he could work from within the enemy's own ranks? Knowing that Katsu was the one responsible for all of the trouble that he had faced during the war, could he even fall for that? What...

Damn it, what the HELL was happening?!

"...recruited."

Hikari's eyes widened as her partner spoke. Everyone heard the feline's voice, but only Hikari seemed to understand the implications of it, at least until Mimi suddenly spoke up from behind her.

"Is that even possible? Can he make somebody change _that_ much? Enough to persuade one of his worst enemies to join him?"

Gatomon curled up, shivering slightly as the memories returned once again. Hikari quickly wrapped her arms around her partner, but it did little to protect her from the waking nightmares that haunted her mind, always waiting to rear their head again...

"Myotismon doesn't... _persuade_ people. He _breaks_ them. He whispers... he gets in your head, plants an idea... tells you there's a way out. Only one way... and once it's there, he tears you down until you can't fight anymore, and then... you're gone. You're a puppet, and all that's left is him, pulling your strings..."

Hikari didn't know what she was feeling... anger, regret, anguish... if it was true, then Myotismon had destroyed the boy she knew and turned him into... into what? What _was_ he now? It was hard to even imagine Katsu as a puppet, the boy who was always in control, and had a plan for everythi-

"Oh god..."

The plan. Rogue protocol. _NO!_

Gatomon suddenly jumped from Hikari's lap as she felt the tension building in the girl. She didn't know what was happening, but given the context of everything else that was occurring, she had no doubt that it was absolutely important.

"Koushiro, do you have any data on Ken's computer?"

"On- what? What are you talking-"

"The _gate!_ Ken opened a gate to the digital world from his computer – did you get _any_ data on it? Any way to find him again? We have to contact Ken, _**NOW!**_"

The sudden shift from dire to panic caught Koushiro off guard, leaving him stunned for a moment, but fortunately the team leaders both had a survival instinct that kicked in as soon as they realized something was wrong... that is, even _more_ wrong than they already knew before.

"Everyone, spread out! Make room! Koushiro, answer the question."

Yamato quickly helped everyone up and away as Taichi spoke, pulling away anyone and anything that might be a distraction before retrieving the tech's bags for him. Koushiro had run into the problem of mental overload several times before, trying to do three things at once inside his head, and they'd found the best solution was to remove as many of those things as possible so that there was only one thing left to focus on.

"I- I don't know... the gate links to a place, not a single system. If he's not in the same place... let me think..."

Eyes closed. Savant mode. Think... find Ken again... he needed a trail to follow.

"His computer... system ID. Need a trail. The gate... contact. He pinged my laptop. I have the records. Need a way to trace... _is he linked to the Hunter network?_"

Koushiro's sudden question in the midst of his brainstorming was a bit of a surprise, but not enough to make Hikari recoil in her current desperation. The network... yes. No question about that one.

"He hacked the network for the Yakuza, he _has_ to be linked to it somehow."

"Hacked... command override. He has system clearance. It would remember the source... but it'd be masked. I need... the source code."

"How do we get it?"

It was enough for Taichi to know that Hikari was panicked about something. He trusted her judgment, especially in anything regarding Katsu. He could ask for the details later, once the problem was resolved. This was a time for action, not a time to worry about his composure.

"We don't. We get _in_ to it."

And then Koushiro went to work. Hacking directly into the Hunter network wasn't going to be easy, but they had no other option. They had to find Ken, and they couldn't get help from anyone like Datamon, else they'd be risking leaving the Hunters even more vulnerable to future attacks from sources other than Myotismon.

The rest of the team quickly found things to occupy their time with while Koushiro worked, knowing not to interrupt him now, of all times. Hikari remained with Koushiro, telling him anything she knew about the network that might give him an opening to hack into it. Some things were more useful than others... she had expected her old account to have been removed along with everything else from the SDZ, but apparently it wasn't. It _was_ completely locked down, and as soon as he logged in it set off an alert in the system that shut down all external access, but even with that it would be beneficial to him. He had a program already in place to analyze everything from the system that he came into contact with, and that brief access opened a door to part of the source code that would be quite valuable. He now had part of the program code that the system ran during log-ins. All he had to do was find a way to modify it so he could trick the system into letting him in...

Mimi, of all people, would provide the miracle this time. While all the others busied themselves with other, more trivial business, she returned to the factory to find Andromon and lead him out to where the team was. He wasn't necessarily the best when it came to hacking – he was designed to secure systems, not take them apart – but Koushiro already had all the pieces they needed, in theory. They just needed a way to work the numbers and modify the code faster than his human fingers could type, and Andromon was perfect for that.

After plugging in to Koushiro's laptop, it wouldn't take long for him to analyze and reverse-engineer the code to figure out exactly what parts needed modifying. What would have been a full day's work was reduced to an hour, and before they knew it the duo had managed to assemble a program that would give them open access to the Hunter network, at least on a rudimentary level. They wouldn't have access to the more secure sections, but they didn't need those. They weren't trying to retrieve top secret files, they were trying to trace system access to locate someone...

Oddly, Koushiro found that the system was already open and accessible from the outside again, even though the lockdown was supposed to remain for at least 24 hours. How was that...

"It's Ken."

Hikari knew instantly. He knew the Hunter network like Datamon knew the dark network. He would have spotted the alarm immediately, and the fact that it was triggered by someone logging in to Hikari's account... he figured out what they were doing and opened the system again.

"Clever... the system claims it's still locked down, but we have access anyway. He must be running a secondary process underneath the first that overrides the program's function without actually disabling it."

"So nobody knows we're in the system..."

"Nobody knows we _can_ be in the system. And if I can find that process..."

"Then you can trace it back to the source, and figure out where Ken is right now."

"Assuming he didn't mask his source when installing the process."

"But he wouldn't do that if he wants us to find him. So it's just a question of whether or not he knows we're after him..."

Hikari wasn't as technically minded as Koushiro, but she understood the strategic half of things well enough. Koushiro dealt with the matter of how, Hikari focused on _why_.

With a little extra help from Andromon to run the numbers, it was easy to locate the process and, lo and behold, Hikari was right. Ken left his source exposed and easy to find. It was a simple matter for Koushiro to access the process and copy out everything he needed. However, as soon as he pulled out he found the process locked down, with the source he had just copied being immediately encrypted so that it couldn't be found again.

"Ken knows we're in the system... he's following us like Datamon did, covering his tracks as we go."

"Then he definitely knows we're trying to contact him. Can you use that data you found to connect to him?"

"I can, but it isn't safe like this. I'm going to pull out of the system and then connect directly to his computer, if possible. That way there won't be a data trail for any of the Hunter techs to follow."

The switch was easy enough, and Ken was already waiting for the signal, as expected. He'd even prepared a mask for them so that the rest of the Hunter network wouldn't detect them while they were conversing. If circumstances were different, Koushiro may have wanted to exchange notes with the boy. He was quick, clever, and seemed to share a love for computers... but that was for another time, when they weren't in such desperate straits.

As the system was connecting, Koushiro moved aside to make room for Hikari. She was the one who understood what sort of crisis was happening, after all. Best to have her deal with this personally, rather than having Koushiro play middle-man.

"Hikari... glad to see you're still doing well, but I'm guessing this isn't a leisure call."

"It's not. Has Katsu contacted you in the last few weeks?"

"Katsu? The Hunter reports said-"

"Cut the crap! Hunter reports are worthless when it comes to Katsu, and we both know it – did he contact you or not?"

Ken's eyes narrowed slightly, wary of Hikari's panicked attitude. He couldn't even guess at what might be wrong, but he knew enough about Hikari to know this was very out of character for her. Normally he'd follow orders, but... special case. Katsu trusted this girl, so he would too.

"He told me not to mention it to anyone, but yes... he called me a few days ago. He said he was prepping for a counter attack against the traitors in Hunter command and needed some information."

"Was it about Rogue Protocol?"

Silence. Now Ken was starting to feel uneasy... if Hikari was worried about that, then... she was scared of Katsu? Why would she be...

"Yes. Now would you _please_ explain why you're asking all these questions?"

Hikari took a deep, heavy breath. This was bad... catastrophically bad. It could lead to the loss of the entire city if they didn't stop him. Every single Hunter defense against Myotismon hinged on a few key points that were easy to demolish with the system that Ken and Katsu had set up. If Myotismon got access to even one of those...

Hikari scooted to one side, making room for somebody to kneel beside her as she signaled Koushiro.

"Get the file ready to transfer. Ken... Katsu is working for Myotismon."

"No, he's not."

The response was immediate and emphatic. He didn't believe it, period. He knew that boy too well, there was no way in _hell_ that he would ever join Myotismon. One couldn't act out that kind of hate against his enemies... there was no show with Katsu. Secrets, yes, but no act. Everything he did was completely honest. It was impossible for him to be any other way.

"Not willingly. Gatomon- that's... my partner. She used to work for Myotismon. He... he can do things to people. Break them, brainwash them... it happened once to her, and it seems it happened with Katsu. We're sending you the file so you can listen to it yourself, later. But we need to act now before something terrible happens."

Ken was quiet, contemplating the situation. Hikari was with the other children... if she was contacting him, it meant that they were likely all in agreement. So it was a question of trust. All of the rogues, or Katsu... not an easy choice for him, and he would have chosen the latter if not for one person. Katsu felt that Hikari was fully trustworthy, and if she was at the forefront of this... he'd at least give her his ear.

"...he asked for the codes to the system underneath what's currently the main network hub for the Hunters. He wanted to bring it down to shut down the entire Hunter network. Then once everything had gone dark he was going to lead a strike team of men from the DA teams into the command center and seize control. He said now was the only chance we'd have, with Myotismon hunting all of you in the digital world."

"If the hub goes down, could that give Myotismon any sort of window to get into Hunter territory?"

This couldn't be what it appeared on the surface... unless he was faking loyalty to Myotismon so he could then turn around take over the Hunters, but that was absurdly dangerous. He could be easily exposed and trapped if the disguise failed even for a moment, and pulling that kind of trick from within Myotismon's inner circle... from everything she knew about that monster, he was far too careful and paranoid to fall for that.

She wanted to believe it... she _desperately_ did – that it was all just an act and that Katsu was still on their side, but it was _far_ too dangerous to risk. Too many lives were at stake to gamble on something like that.

"No. If the hub goes down, there's no way to gate jump into Hunter territory. If he has some ulterior motive, it has to be something else..."

"Give us the codes for the system under the hub. We'll go in to see for ourselves. In the meantime, you can listen to the file, then we'll call you once we get back."

Taichi's entrance was sudden and abrupt, but not unwelcome. As always, his arrival heralded a switch from thinking to acting, which was welcome now. They needed to go in on foot and see for themselves what was happening.

Ken acknowledged and quickly sent them the codes to access the system before disconnecting. While he was busy facing the horrible truth about what had happened, Koushiro prepped a gate to take them to the hidden system. After some debate, they decided that they would all travel together. A smaller team was better if they needed to get out fast, but it was better to have more allies if there was something waiting for them down there...

Leaving Andromon to watch his laptop, Koushiro led the others through a quick jump into the sub basement of the Hunter hub. They didn't find any of what they were expecting... no enemies, no explosives rigged to the supports. It seemed almost completely still, save for a single object, roughly in the center of the massive chamber that Taichi spotted as he was going from support to support, looking for signs of explosives. It was clearly if digital world origin, but without his laptop on hand Koushiro had no way of identifying it.

It was large and spherical, and seemed to be charging up, as best Koushiro could tell. For a moment it almost seemed like a bomb, but no... it was different. It was like a sort of... engine. A generator? Why would Myotismon place something like this-

Oh, hell.

It had nothing to limit the charge. The energy it produced would just keep growing until it burned itself out, and the outer shell... it was electromagnetically conductive, and given the way it was designed...

"This is an EMP bomb."

"What's that mean?"

"What'll happen if it goes off?"

Hikari quickly overrode Sora's question with her own. Didn't matter what it stood for, all they needed to know was what it was designed to do, and what they needed to do to stop it.

"If the hub isn't shielded, it'll fry all the computers up above once the charge grows strong enough. If they are, it'll fry some of them and cause a major glitch- oh crap... that's it! The network will stay up, but it'll knock out the security long enough for Myotismon to form gates in Hunter territory and swarm in with his army!"

"Gabumon!"

Yamato was the first to act, and rightly so as Garurumon was the only partner who wouldn't hit their head on the short ceiling after digivolving. As soon as he had grown he grabbed the device with his jaws and began dragging it back toward the computer that linked them back to the digital world.

"Wait, what are you doing?"

"If we destroy it, can we be sure it won't detonate?"

Koushiro paused. Good question. Hard to say unless he knew the design. It was possible the charge wouldn't be any worse than its current level, but given that it was digital world technology it didn't necessarily follow the traditional laws of physics. It wasn't worth the risk...

"Alright, we take it back to the digital world, get it far from the factory, and then blow it up!"

Nobody had any protests, and with the rest of the team helping him, Garurumon had a much easier time getting it to the computer. Koushiro opened the gate immediately, not wanting to risk the possibility of the charge frying the computer by keeping it nearby too long. As soon as they had crossed over, Biyomon evolved quickly to Garudamon and seized the bomb, carrying it up and away from the others, toward the ocean and far out of range of anybody or anything on the island.

The explosion could be seen even from the factory, but fortunately Sora contacted the rest of the team immediately afterward to let them know she and her partner were safe. As they didn't have any machine parts on them, neither was especially vulnerable to an EMP, and they were far enough from the object that any electrical discharge didn't hit them, either.

Koushiro immediately contacted Ken, who was now far more convinced, both from the recording and from the information they gave him regarding what they found. He didn't need any more convincing. Katsu was lost – controlled by Myotismon now, and a traitor in every practical sense. Getting him back was possible, but the first and most important step was neutralizing his potential to threaten them.

"So what can we do? With the influence Katsu has, there's too many ways..."

"SP-10."

Hikari's eyes shifted toward the screen from where they had been, wandering about aimlessly as she contemplated the problem. Special Protocol Ten... she had to wonder if Katsu would have some answer to that, but there was another, more important question to ask first.

"What's that?"

"Katsu's plan in case this sort of thing ever happened."

His plan for... _this_? He planned for the possibility of his own betrayal? Was that even possible?

"How exactly do you _plan_ for something like this? Wouldn't he know how to stop it?"

"No. He set up the system, but control for activating it was put in the hands of others he trusted. The _only_ people he trusted... it involved three separate pieces, each designed by a different person, so that nobody knew enough to be able to disable it, and only one could activate it."

"Alright, stop. Back up. Explain what this is first, and then tell us how it works."

Ken nodded slightly before reaching over past one side of the screen to retrieve something out of view. As he began to speak he also began typing, apparently prepping for the first staging of activating SP-10.

"You know about the SP series. A set of contingency plans for an escalating series of potential crises. The first five deal with catastrophes in the war itself. Barrier collapse, network failure... the latter five deal with betrayal. This includes willful betrayal, blackmail, mind control... anything you can imagine. SP-6 was designed for if a large section of the standard Hunter army was 'compromised' in any way. SP-7, as you know, dealt with the same issue for Hunter Command. SP-8 deals with SDZ and Katsu's closest aids. SP-9 deals with... well, you. The rogues."

Interesting... he'd even planned for the possibility of the digidestined falling under Myotismon's influence and turning against humanity. How, she couldn't even begin to imagine. If they were on Myotismon's side then the Hunters wouldn't even have a prayer. What she'd give to get a glimpse at what _that_ plan must involve...

"And SP-10... deals with Katsu himself?"

It was ronic... most people would assume the digidestined would be first on the list if they understood what was actually happening in the war, but Katsu actually ranked himself above that. Then again, it was fairly accurate... _he_ was the one who came up with these insane plans, and besides that, it would be harder for him to deal with being mind controlled than to deal with it happening to someone else.

"Exactly. As I said, it was designed in three parts. Katsu made the program that did whatever needed to be done... he never told anybody what it was. Only he was allowed to know. _My_ job was designing the method to distribute it throughout the Hunter network, so that it reached everything and everyone under his command. It was the most technically challenging system I'm ever designed, but considering where we are now... I think it's worth it."

"Was Masaharu the third?"

Hikari already knew where this was going. She knew the boy's mind well enough after all the time she spent around him to understand who he trusted and who he didn't. Masaharu was the only person ever to talk him down and change his mind, at least as Hikari had seen. He _had_ to be pretty high on the list to accomplish that.

"Yes. He's not as good with the technical side of things, so I designed a program to streamline the process for him. It helped him generate a concealed ID profile within the Hunter network. Almost impossible to detect. It was encoded with a variable encryption algorithm that changed the encryption process based on values that he chose during the process, so even I wouldn't be able to find it without the code unless I took apart the entire network. Activating the program is as simple as logging into the profile, but for that you need the correct ID and password."

"So unless we can talk to him, we can't access SP-10..."

"...and right now he's in the Hunter military prison."

Hikari glanced up to her brother as he concluded her thought for her. Around them stood all the rest of the team, each considering the problem. To stop Katsu, they would have to raid the prison... no small feat, given that it was in the heart of Hunter territory and heavily guarded. But they also had to do it fast, before Myotismon realized what happened and sent a team to the hub basement again to place another bomb.

"Is there any way we can sneak into the prison so we don't have to fight?"

They had to speak to Masaharu, but Jou preferred doing so without a fight. This was one of the rare problems that didn't involve something from the enemy army trying to murder them or the Hunters, so they could actually use non-violent means to accomplish it. The problem was the level of security they were up against...

"Not us. Not with all the DG sensors around, and there's no way we could disguise ourselves well enough to fool the guards. If we had Wizardmon to turn us invisible we could do it, but with what we have..."

Yamato's voice trailed off and he idly leaned against a nearby tree, lost in thought. He didn't like the idea of breaking in, especially since it was his father in there. Once they left, there was no telling what the Hunters would do to him, and he couldn't go back with them to the digital world...

"What if we can get somebody else to go in for us?"

Hikari turned to her partner, raising an eyebrow. Somebody else... who else would work? It would have to either be somebody with Hunter clearance, or one who had justifiable reason to visit Masaharu in prison like- ah... yes, of course. Hikari turned back to the screen to Ken, who quickly noticed the shift in her demeanor.

"Ken... is there any way you can contact Natsuko Ishida?"

* * *

It took a while and a bit of butchering the network, but Ken finally managed to set up a connection for the team. It linked them through the Hunter network, into the local phone towers, and from there they made a call to Natsuko's personal cell phone. The whole system was horribly unstable, but good enough to last for a few minute, at least.

"Hello?"

"Natsuko, please stay calm and try to act normal... this is Hikari."

There was a long pause and several sounds of movement from the other end. Nothing sounded too bad, fortunately... maybe she was just moving out of earshot of others who were standing nearby.

"I... wasn't expecting a call from you."

"Wasn't expecting to call... listen, I need your help. Something's happening. Something _really_ bad, and I can't explain it all, but we need to get into contact with Masaharu. Are you able to visit him at all?"

It made Hikari feel somewhat sick to her stomach to think of putting this woman in danger for them, but this was desperate... if they didn't do this, Myotismon's army could flood into the city without warning, and who knew how many people would die. Granted, he could break through the barriers as well, but at least then people could see it coming and would have a chance to flee.

"Um... sometimes, but not often. And there's always a lot of people watching or listening, but I could... _try_ to help. What do you need?"

"I... I don't want to put you in danger, but... there's something Katsu created, called SP-10. We need an ID and password to activate it, and only Masaharu knows-"

"Hope."

"Wh- Hope? What?"

"That's the ID you need."

"That's- wait... how do you know that? Did he _tell_ you about SP-10?"

"I know the codes for nearly everything he did or had, just in case I ever needed to use any of them... a way to keep me safe, he said. But he didn't give me the code to that one. He didn't even tell me what it was... just the name of the ID. He said if it had to be used, whoever needed it could figure out the password themselves."

Apparently Katsu was starting to rub off on people... Masaharu had picked up some of that same paranoia when it came to protecting his own family. Maybe in other ways, too? She could hope... if it was Katsu in prison, she would have assumed he was there on purpose and had some plan to use the situation to his advantage. Then she'd have an assurance that he was safe...

"Well... thank you. We'll take care of figuring out the password, then..."

"Don't mention it. And... could you pass a message on to Yamato for me?"

Hikari turned to look back to Yamato, who met her gaze but said nothing. It was clear how much he wanted to talk to her, but not now... they were on a tight schedule, and people could die if they delayed too long.

"Of course I can..."

"Tell him his father and I love him... and we don't want him to feel sorry for what's happening. We're proud of him, and the things he's doing to win this war... the things you're _all_ doing."

"Alright... I'll let him know. Thank you."

"No. Thank _you_... goodbye."

Hikari sighed heavily as the transmission was cut off. Koushiro then quickly retrieved his laptop to disconnect from the butchered system Ken had set up.

"Well, that's convenient. Now we just need to figure out the password... any guesses?"

Taichi commented idly as Koushiro reconnected to Ken and prepared to log in to the network.

"Did you hear the everything?"

Koushiro muttered idly, setting the computer down in front of Hikari again as Ken's face came up on the screen.

"Yeah, I got the whole conversation. _Hope_... given what Natsuko said, I assume it's a basic hint-and-code system. Whatever the password is, it's something related to Hope, at least in Masaharu's mind."

"Katsu."

Sora was the first to speak up, though she wasn't the only one to have that thought. In Masaharu's mind it was likely the truth... Katsu was the one who held everything together, and was their hope for victory in the war. However, a quick buzz would cut that line of thought short.

_INVALID ID_

"No good."

"Hikari?"

Hikari turned to Gatomon beside her, watching her for several moments before she realized the feline wasn't trying to get her attention, she was giving an answer.

"Hikari. The password. If it's not Katsu's name, maybe it's yours."

"No. We set up this system well before we ever met Hikari. He wouldn't have known her name."

Ken quickly responded from the other side of the screen. Good guess, though. Had it been made later, it might be right. Though, on that note... perhaps it wasn't one single individual, but a group of them. Not a name... a title. Rogue.

_INVALID ID_

Hikari narrowed her eyes slightly, frustrated. What about plural? Rogues?

_INVALID ID_

"Damn it."

Hikari threw her arms up and leaned back, sighing heavily again.

"Okay, so not on that vein. What else could it be?"

Hikari glanced to Jou as he spoke, then to Mimi as she replied.

"There's no one else we could name. It's not the Hunters. Maybe it's more... abstract. Maybe it's what he hopes _for_ instead of what he hopes _in_."

Hell, why not? Might as well try everything they could. They didn't have time to sit and ponder all day.

"Peace... life... victory..."

_INVALID ID_

_INVALID ID_

_INVALID ID_

"This would be a lot less annoying without that stupid buzz..."

As Hikari muttered, Koushiro moved to her side and pushed a button to mute the computer for a moment before quickly undoing it.

"Well, we can't mute it unless we want to silence Ken, too."

Another sigh. Alright, Hikari, think. Hope. Masaharu's password, Hope...

"Maybe it's not related at all?"

"Got any better ideas?"

Hikari quickly pushed out the voices of Sora, Taichi, and everyone else from her mind, going into her own sort of 'savant' mode. _Think_. Hope... what was his hope in the war? Not Katsu... no, he was a symbol of everything that was wrong with the war. A broken heart, a broken soul... there was no hope there. Victory, but not hope. The rogues? ...yes. There was hope there, but that wasn't the password, she already tried it, so it had to be something else. Hope... what did Masaharu have hope in?

The children. She tried to think of something else, but she kept falling back to that same thing. The children, again and again. Hope, hope, hope... always them. The digidestined. But she'd already tried that... hadn't she?

_Yamato_

_INVALID ID_

No... not that, either. Not his own son, so it wouldn't be any of the other children, either. Although...

Yamato... he wasn't hope. No... he was friendship. Taichi... he was courage. The rest of the children and their crests... one was unnamed, but it wasn't hope, either. That much she knew. Think outside the box, Hikari. See the big picture. Like the digivice...you knew it instinctively. This is the same. It's there right in front of you.

The children... courage, friendship, love, knowledge, purity, light... integrity... and hope. Hope.

_Takeru_

A pause. No buzz this time. Hikari waited, holding her breath a moment as the rest of the team continued to talk around her, utterly oblivious to what was happening with the computer and girl that sat on the grass at their feet until suddenly the entire screen went black and reset back to the main screen. What the hell?

"What just happened?"

Koushiro was first to notice. Hikari passed him the computer, and in a moment he was right at work, checking the system to figure out what went wrong. At first he seemed confused, but that confusion quickly turned to shock.

"What... the whole Hunter network just went down. Everything is resetting. Hikari, what did you _do_?"

"She typed a password and didn't get a buzz."

Gatomon was quick to answer; though she didn't mention what the password _was_, even though she had seen it typed. Questions flew around for a moment but Hikari ignored them, and Koushiro quickly dismissed them all as well. Get the system back up and running first, then they can deal with the questions. Soon Koushiro was back in contact with Ken, who seemed much less surprised than the team did...

"Looks like you found the right password."

"Wait, that was it?"

Hikari moved around to Koushiro's side, practically seizing the laptop from his hands as Ken's face appeared on the screen.

"In order to activate Katsu's program without being detected, my program forces all systems on the network to reset. The network itself actually remains up, and while all the computers on it are reconnecting it, it releases the program to all systems and runs whatever processes were built in to it."

"So... it's done?"

Ken nodded and Hikari blinked several times. That was... much simpler than she expected.

"So what _happened_?"

Hikari glanced to Sora. Good question. No idea how to answer, as none of them even knew what Katsu's program _did_.

"Log back in with that same password. He may have left a message for us."

Hikari nodded and passed the laptop to Koushiro, who quickly set it up to log in before passing it back. As expected, everyone was watching her intently as she typed the password _this_ time. She didn't turn to look at any of their faces, but from the breathless silence that hung around her she could guess at what they were thinking...

Fortunately, this time the system didn't shut down. It logged in just fine, though the screen she was greeted by was almost completely devoid of... well, anything. The only thing of note was mail... a single message sent to that account, source unknown.

_Special Protocol 10 activated successfully. All authorization transferred to SDZ secondary authority._

"What's SDZ secondary authority?"

Hikari muttered, turning first to Koushiro before realizing he'd have no clue, then she turned back to Ken on the screen.

"Logically, the second person in charge of SDZ. Masaharu, most likely."

Well, that was... problematic. He had all the authority but no way to access it as he was in prison. But it was still far better than the alternative. Better no commander than one who was being controlled by Myotismon.

"Wait... but... Masaharu isn't... wasn't... over SDZ anymore. He was moved out, wasn't he? Second-in-command is... Hikari."

Hikari's gaze slowly drifted over to Mimi, who stood watching her along with the rest of the children. She was... no, that was impossible. Besides, Katsu made this program well before ever meeting her, didn't he? There's no way he could have designed it to transfer command to _her_.

"Wait... she's right. I'm checking the network now. All authority was transferred to the official – and current – second-in-command of SDZ... that's you, Hikari."

"...what?"

"The program... it looks like my system worked. All of the masked sub-networks of SDZ that are operating inside the Hunter main network... the program reached them all. Every single SDZ team, and all their computers, now recognize you, Hikari Yagami, as the head of the division."

Hikari was beyond stunned. She was... flabbergasted. It was arguable whether that was actually a _word_ or not, but that was fine. There weren't really any words that could accurately describe what she was feeling anyway. The SDZ... the entire division was now under _her_ authority? Did... did Katsu know this would happen? Did he _plan_ for it? If not, it was insane. If so, then... _he_ was insane! Putting _her_ in charge of the entire division, when she barely knew anything about military command? She'd barely been trained! She was just getting started when she had to flee! How could she handle _this_?!

But the part that was worst of all was the fact that she knew she couldn't undo it. She had no way to transfer command to anyone else, and nobody to transfer it _to_. One option was Ken, but he wasn't officially part of the Hunters in the first place. Ryo? She didn't even know what had happened to _him_. Maybe he was a prisoner, maybe he was with the escaped teams... maybe he was dead. And even if he was alive, there was no telling if he could handle the responsibility of it, either.

"Hikari, snap out of it!"

It would be Ken that finally pulled her out of her stunned stupor. Until now she hadn't seen him angry or anything of the sort, but now through the screen he was definitely emanating that sort of emotion... and then some.

"There's no time to stand and gawk at this! We still have to secure the network hub, and after that there's no telling what Katsu is going to do! But whatever it is, rest assured it is going to be _very_ bad for us. With everything he knows, and the way he fights... we can't fight passively anymore. We have to get on the offensive as soon as possible."

A pause. Hikari glanced across the faces of her comrades once more. They understood... as she did. He was right. The war of survival ended the moment Katsu was taken by Myotismon and his army. Simply trying to survive would get them all killed. Now they had to switch gears... they had to fight a war of aggression. Secure the hub, get the crest, and _attack_. Attack Myotismon's armies, his minions, his generals... free Katsu, and ultimately... kill Myotismon himself. That was the only recourse they had now.

"Ken... start thinking. Figure out a way to secure that hub from Myotismon. We're going after the last crest."


	13. Egress

A/N: I can't say I'm pleased with these extended delays between chapters, but I'm working through them. Not really sure what else to say at this point... after everything I've already mentioned in previous chapters, I think the story pretty much speaks for itself, so read and enjoy, everyone!

Chapter 13: Egress

**When written in Chinese, the word "crisis" is composed of two characters. One represents danger and the other represents opportunity.**

Following the activation of SP-10, Hikari suddenly took a more active leadership role in the team, and the change in her demeanor was distinct and immediate. On the outside, she grew colder, more focused... more like everything she had once described Katsu as. Inside... she was a wreck. The stress of knowing that countless lives depended on the decisions she made was almost overwhelming. The only way she knew to maintain her clam and composure was to keep herself constantly focused on a single question:

_What would Katsu do?_

It was a double question, however. Not simply the matter of how he would confront a problem if he were with them, but also the question of what sort of response would be given by Myotismon's army, under his command.

She tried approaching the matter from the technical side, but the sheer number of problems they faced, as well as the matter of _who_ they were facing, made their problems seem insurmountable. Breaking the blockade was reckless under the best of circumstances, but with Katsu predicting what they were going to do it was likely impossible.

So... how did the boy do it? Was he simply so brilliant that he could out think everyone on all sides of the war at the same time? Hikari couldn't imitate that...

Think, Hikari... what would Katsu do... what _did_ he do? Like the digidestined, he took advantage of any opportunities that presented themselves, but it was more than that. The way he found the silver lining even in the darkest of clouds... no matter what happened, he found _some_ way to turn it to his favor, even if he couldn't stop the problem itself.

The problem... the blockade. They couldn't break the blockade itself without the risk of terrible consequences, so... don't. Ignore the blockade. Find the opportunity it presents. All of Myotismon's armies in one place, waiting for them... meant that they weren't in other places. They weren't in the _human_ world.

While Ken worked on setting up a solution to the problem of Rogue Protocol, Hikari got Koushiro to contact Datamon again. She needed all the information they could get on Myotismon's army, and about Phantomon in particular.

"All communications from Phantomon have emerged from the human world, though I haven't been able to isolate the exact location. With the current condition of Myotismon's network in that world, following the destruction of his hub, it's a miracle he's even able to contact anyone at all."

"So they're still not using the dark network in the human world?"

"No. It seems that even that pig is clever enough to see the potential security risks of such a set up. As it stands, only those in the digital world can access the dark network. If he were to connect all his systems from that world to it, the Hunters could theoretically hack into the dark network and affect his assets in the digital world."

Koushiro sat and pondered for a moment, though Hikari's mind was already hard at work putting together a plan. It wasn't enough to just bleed Myotismon... they had to hit him where it hurt, and the places that hurt the most... was his most loyal agents, the 'recruits.' Gatomon, Phantomon, and Katsu.

She quickly mouthed a question to Koushiro, to relay to Datamon.

"Do you have the codes to access Myotismon's network in the human world?"

"I do. I will assume you wish to mount an assault against his forces there, then?"

Koushiro paused, glancing to Hikari, who offered no reply. No words, no expression. She didn't want anyone to know yet... fair enough.

"I don't know. But the human world is his most exposed point right now, even with Phantomon there. We have to take advantage of this opportunity."

"In that, at least, you are correct. Sending the codes now. But please, if at all possible, _try_ to make whatever you do more useful than what you did to confront other recent problems."

Koushiro cut off the conversation without another word. Arrogant little... alright, so they had the codes. They could jump to Myotismon's territory at will. Now all they needed was to figure out what they were going to use them for.

"You know if we try to attack, we'll be going up against Phantomon. He's Myotismon's highest ranking general for a reason..."

Jou was the one who commented, though everyone else was there as well, and thinking the same thing. They were waiting, watching, listening... they hoped that she had some clever ruse to get around the problem. Well, they'd be disappointed in this case... she had absolutely no intention of _avoiding_ anything.

"A general without an army. His forces are all holed up in the digital world, too far from a rift to get back to the analogue world quickly. He's alone, and we have five perfect-level digimon on our side..."

The response was immediate and distinct. Fear... but also interest. She was right that he was alone, and now more vulnerable than he had ever been before. Despite all the danger, this was the best opportunity they'd ever had to target him...

"Koushiro, get a gate ready. We're going to kill Phantomon."

* * *

The task of actually hunting their target down in the human world was far more tricky than otherwise due to the simple fact that they didn't know where he was. They had an idea about the general location of Myotismon's main stronghold in Odaiba, but a direct attack would be suicidal, pitting them up against Myotismon and his personal guard as well as any reinforcements he got. He wasn't their target... not today.

Besides, there was no assurance their true target would even _be_ there. The lack of enemies in the human world meant that Phantomon was most likely kept there in order to guard their assets from Hunter attack. Back him up with a small task force of high-level digimon that the Hunter weapons couldn't do much harm to, spread out across a wide area, and there was no way for the humans to gain any ground without sacrificing far too many lives...

However, the digidestined were another story. They were at the enemy's level, and the enemies were widely dispersed, which gave them a distinct numerical advantage. They'd have to hit hard to destroy any enemies they encountered before they could get backup, but as long as they worked fast enough and kept the opposing numbers down, the amount of damage they could do against Myotismon's human-world armies was potentially unlimited. Head to head, five on one, they were just about unstoppable.

So the plan, then, was to simply attack. Get to the front, on Myotismon's side of the barrier, and kill anything in sight. The alarm would go off, and sooner or later their target would show up.

Despite protests, Hikari was determined to go with the rest of the team on this mission. She couldn't help as much as the others, but she could assist in her own way – as bait. The enemies wanted her dead? They'd have to go through her friends first, and any enemy that got distracted by her presence would be an easier target for the others.

Jou volunteered to protect her, serving as a shield if nothing else. Ikkakumon would be better on the defensive anyway, since he couldn't do as much damage on the offensive. Fortunately, she had finally gotten her arm out of that stupid sling, so she could move more easily and even get some use out of her injured arm, which would make protecting her easier for Gatomon and Ikkakumon.

Koushiro left his laptop with Andromon with instructions to keep it active. It would be their connection node when they needed to gate jump back to the digital world. As for the rest... there wasn't much else they could do to prepare. This was an attack mission, charging head-on into the enemy's territory... they'd have to adjust their actions as they went, so rather than over-plan it they simply went in with a goal: Search and Destroy. They'd figure out the rest along the way.

"Alright, I want everyone to understand this. Our target is Phantomon, but anything else we run into along the way is a threat. The fewer enemies there are, the more likely we are to succeed, so we hold nothing back. If you see it, kill it. I don't care if it's attacking, hiding, or running away in fear. _Everything_ dies."

Taichi looked across the faces of his team, each nodding soberly. He remembered Wizardmon's words, then... how far were they willing to go for the war? How much could they justify for the sake of the 'greater good'? What if there were digimon in Myotismon's army that weren't truly evil? Ones that had no choice but to fight for him or be killed by their current master? And even those that were evil... if they ran away, determined not to fight because they knew they couldn't win, was it right to hunt them down and kill them regardless? Even the evil ones had hearts and minds... it was still killing, and it couldn't be called self-defense anymore.

Damn this war... damn Myotismon for making these things necessary. The only solace here was the fact that Phantomon's death would go a long way to helping them win the war, and that the sooner it was over, the sooner the atrocities could stop.

* * *

The reaction to the children's arrival in the human world was everything they expected. The first enemies to spot them were shocked, utterly convinced that there was no way they would be facing anything other than Hunter troops. Then they were more shocked as MegaKabuterimon unleashed a wave of electricity to fry them, followed up by a pair of missiles from MetalGreymon.

A quick scan of their surroundings showed they were alone. If there were any low-level scouts that had spotted them, they were gone. They had dropped in to a location as close to the center of enemy lines as possible, hoping to find Phantomon on guard near the barrier, but no luck.

"Koushiro, ideas?"

"Head toward the most recently captured sectors! That's where the Hunters were making their last push, and it's also the area that's been least reinforced by Myotismon's army! His strongest defenders should be _there_!"

Taichi nodded and signaled the others to move into formation. Koushiro took the lead, with MegaKabuterimon's horn at the front, to ram through anything that tried to charge them. Just behind him on either side was MetalGreymon and Garudamon, one ferrying Jou and Gomamon, the other carrying Hikari and Gatomon. On the ground under them was Garurumon, with Lillymon, Mimi's perfectly evolved partner, just above him to intercept anything that might come after him. He was the weakest of the group at the moment, and the most vulnerable to attack until he evolved, so Mimi's partner stood guard to make sure he had time to do just that while Mimi rode with Koushiro at the front of the formation.

It was a little tricky for Yamato and Garurumon, who had to regularly jump over street blockades and other obstacles Myotismon had set up in order to stay with the rest of the group. With the condition of the streets in these sectors, it would be all but impossible for the Hunters to move in with their vehicles unless they had some heavy munitions to punch through. However, that would require them to split their weaponry between data-based weapons and standard explosives, which weakened their potential against the enemy army.

Along the way they encountered a few other high-powered enemies, two in the air, one on the ground. They were all demolished with relative ease. Five against one was by no means fair odds, and none of the enemies had a chance to get help before going down.

Finally, the obstacles began to disappear as they entered the sector most recently captured by the enemy. The area was quite familiar, as there were still signs all over the area of the destruction they had caused when they attacked here the first time... Taichi ignored those issues, though, and scanned the sky with his telescope, looking over all the buildings for any sign of their target.

"Two o'clock!"

"Is it Phantomon?"

Taichi shook his head, pocketing his telescope as he turned back toward Jou.

"I don't know, but there are a bunch of enemies gathered in one place. Looks like they know we're here!"

"Then we have to hit now, before they can gather even more!"

Yamato patted the side of his partner as he spoke, who simply nodded in assent. He had some unfinished business with Phantomon... he held his own in the last fight, but they had been forced to cut the battle short out of risk of being overwhelmed by the enemy's numbers. Now the general had a much smaller army to work with and the children had one more crest on their side. The situation was also reversed, with the digidestined being the hunters instead of the hunted. This time... things were going to be very different.

As they closed in on their target, Taichi would send out another message to the team – they found him. He finally got close enough to spot Phantomon's face. He was turned toward them, along with his minions, so he knew they were coming. No ambush this time, just a good, old fashioned throw-down.

"Yamato! Dodge!"

Yamato wasn't quick enough to catch whatever Hikari shouted through her digivice, but fortunately his partner was, diving to one side just in time to avoid getting blown up by a missile coming from one of the side streets. A moment later, MetalTyrannomon stepped out into the open, readying to take aim for a second strike.

A number of shouts came through the digivices. More enemies coming from other side, surrounding them. SkullMeramon and Minatarumon on the ground at the sides, and Phantomon in front. At either side of him were Parrotmon and Okuwamon, an over-grown Kuwagamon. Six against five. Suddenly the odds didn't look so good...

"_WIPE THEM OUT!"_

...but to hell with the odds. They were through running away.

Whatever response Phantomon was expecting, that wasn't it. Typically, the children would try to flee or get into a less vulnerable position when faced with this many enemies. Instead, this time they charged, swarming out in every direction to hit every enemy at the same time. The surprise was enough to catch him off guard for a moment, and that was all the time the children needed to begin their assault with their perfect-level partners while Jou, Hikari, and their partners dismounted and rushed to the nearest cover they could find.

A flaming twister thrown straight at Phantomon by Garudamon was enough to scare his personal guard away for a moment. He didn't charge through the inferno this time, knowing his position was far from as advantageous as it had been in the last meeting. At the same time, Lillymon sped at MetalTyrannomon, seizing his neck with a flowery wreath that immediately pacified him.

Garurumon evolved and charged the Minotaur while MetalGreymon went after SkullMeramon. MegaKabuterimon then took to the air, charging at whatever aerial enemy was closest, forcing them to constantly dodge to keep from getting impaled into a nearby building.

They couldn't afford a battle of attrition with the possibility of more enemies coming, so they had to strike hard and finish fast. Mimi began the assault, with Lillymon and her now-pet MetalTyrannomon charging their guns in unison.

"Taichi, get out of the way!"

MetalGreymon pulled out just in time to avoid the two guns firing in unison. SkullMeramon took both shots square in the chest, after which one pair of missiles from MetalGreymon was enough to finish him off. He promptly turned his attention to Minatarumon as WereGarurumon pulled out of that fight and turned his attention to the sky... to Phantomon.

MegaKabuterimon finally caught up to one of his targets, soon locking his horn against Okuwamon's jaws. Garudamon turned and charged after Parrotmon, making sure it remained preoccupied as WereGarurumon quickly ascended one of the nearby buildings, catching the attention of the nearby reaper.

"Ah... come to settle things... good... I was looking forward to watching you die... I'm glad to see I can kill you _myself_..."

His scythe drew back and he charged, leaving his minions to fight and die on their own. Admittedly, the enemies were all fairly strong, so even if the digidestined were stronger, they could still last a while one on one against them... but unfortunately for them, the odds weren't in their favor. With a bit of patience, Lillymon and MetalTyrannomon soon charged their cannons again, waiting for one of the aerial enemies to move out into the open. It would take a couple minutes as the buildings were making the targeting process much harder, but eventually Parrotmon would come into view.

Two shots, one wing blade, and the bird was down for the count. Garudamon then joined MegaKabuterimon against Okuwamon while Lillymon and her pet dinosaur went to help Taichi and his partner.

Distracted though he was, Phantomon wasn't completely oblivious to the fight around him. One more ally down, and the odds were quickly turning against them... ducking out of the way of one of WereGarurumon's attacks, the general dove off the side of the building, coming down on where Lillymon was, scythe drawn. The flower girl would be able to get clear well before he could hit her, but she wasn't the intended target... instead he sliced through the wreath holding MetalTyrannomon under her control, releasing the beast against his enemies once more.

He wouldn't have time to enjoy that brief success, as his face soon found itself being smashed into the pavement as WereGarurumon landed atop him and crushed him into the ground. Like his partner, the wolf usually fought carefully, with restraint and control... but sometimes the gloves just had to come off, and when they did he fought like a hound from hell, chasing down and brutalizing his enemies with all the savagery he could muster.

He would be able to throw the wolf off of him, but he'd have to dodge and take flight immediately to escape the follow up attack. This was bad... his minions were falling fast, and he wasn't keeping up with WereGarurumon as well as he expected to. His raw power was much greater, but in terms of speed they were roughly equal. Also, the wolf had apparently learned a bit from their last fight and was thus more prepared for the general's tactics this time around. Typically he depended on his superior ability to muscle through most enemies, overwhelming them with no regard to what minor injuries they might inflict on him. He preferred a quick and painful end to a battle over a long and safe one. However, that didn't work here. Attacking fast left him with too many openings for the dog to take advantage of, and he simply wasn't landing enough hits to balance it out.

Granted, he could switch his tactics and gain an advantage, but he had no time for a drawn out fight. Soon the rest of the children's digimon would be able to converge on him. Damnation! He had never been defeated before, had never even fled a battle before, but if he didn't go now...

Turning, Phantomon took off into the air, fleeing the battle as fast as he could. WereGarurumon attempted to pursue on the ground, but he had no chance of keeping up with all the buildings and other obstacles slowing him down and concealing his target. If there were any enemies in the sector that weren't aware of the children's presence, they would be then as the wolf's roar echoed through all the streets. No doubt even some of the Hunters might hear that and wonder what was happening... too bad they weren't going to make a move into Myotismon's territory due to the danger. This was probably their best shot to retake the sector.

By the time he rushed back to the fight, things were shifting even further in their favor, though they weren't quite wrapped up yet. Okuwamon was gone, and the aerial duo now had their attention on Minatarumon, allowing MetalGreymon to lock arms against MetalTyrannomon. He'd managed to pin down the rival dinosaur's beam weapon, and even a virus-infested, brutal killing machine wasn't dumb enough to fire his missile at point-blank range. Unfortunately, their strength seemed to be evenly matched, and the enemy's armor was shockingly robust. Lillymon fired off her cannon at it from behind, having already hit it twice already, and it still didn't go down...

Fortunately, they had just gained a major advantage: WereGarurumon was _pissed_ at their failure to destroy Phantomon, and he was determined to take it out on something.

MetalTyrannomon, you're the unlucky target...

One hard blow to the knee was enough to knock the beast off-balance, enough so that MetalGreymon had to release it or risk being dragged down as well. Then WereGarurumon, taking advantage of the fact that he was both significantly faster and smaller, moved under him as it caught himself with one arm – an arm which was promptly struck at the inside of the elbow, sending the monster down the rest of the way to the pavement. The wolf then ducked under its legs, ascended the dinosaur's back, and struck the back of the creature's neck as hard as he could.

Pressure points. All the armor in the world might reduce the damage, but it didn't stop it from hurting like hell. Following that savage string of attacks came a full assault from the rest of the team. Garudamon and MegaKabuterimon had finally the job against Minatarumon to join in, and the combination of all their attacks was more than enough to punch through the beast's armor and destroy it completely.

The team waited a second, as if expecting a follow-up attack to come, but... nothing. Soon enough, Jou and Hikari emerged with their partners from a nearby alley where they had been hiding. And to think, Gomamon didn't even need to evolve to protect them... looks like they'd underestimated their own strength.

"Phantomon got away..."

Yamato was as angry as his partner, but the fact that they'd cleaned up the rest of the digimon so well made it slightly easier to handle. The surrounding block was half rubble now, but compared to the last time they were in this sector, this was nothing.

"We still managed to kill nine perfect-level enemies and force Phantomon to run away."

"_I'd_ call that a victory."

Yamato sighed and shook his head lightly, turning from Sora and Taichi. Nice attempt trying to cheer things up, but we still failed...

"We've done enough here. Let's get back to the island. Myotismon will have to respond fast to salvage this."

All eyes turned to Hikari then, her tone giving away some of what she had been planning. Yes, her intention had been Phantomon, but even failing at that, they still took out nine other high-level digimon. Myotismon would no longer have enough forces in the human world to guard his territory... unless he pulled some from the blockade in the digital world. And then, who was to say the children wouldn't just do this again? He'd have to pull a _lot_ of forces from the blockade, both to replace those lost and to make sure they were reinforced enough that they wouldn't fall so easily next time.

So... they failed their mission, but they accomplished the same goal in the end. Either Myotismon would have to fall back and accept a huge loss in the human world, or he'd have to loosen his hold on the Server shoreline. Either way, they win something.

_Just like Katsu._

* * *

"Well, it seems that your plan worked. Datamon reports massive troop movements on Server. They're withdrawing from the shore toward Myotismon's castle, to go back back to the human world..."

Twenty-four hours since the strike and everything was moving like Hikari anticipated. In that time, Koushiro had gone under the hub and installed a program on the system there that would ping his laptop any time anyone tried to access it, so they were able to keep an eye on it without needing to constantly check it in person. They still went in every few hours just to make sure that Myotismon's goons hadn't figured out a way to bypass the program, but so far there were no problems.

"...they're moving a lot more troops than we expected, though. They just about abandoned the coast, save for a few small task forces."

"Scouts. They're keeping watch for when we return. They figured out what we're up to."

Gatomon commented from what was becoming her regular position, atop Hikari's good shoulder. Between her experience in Myotismon's army and Hikari's experience at Katsu's side, they were the most dangerous duo in the team when it came to planning.

"Now it's just a question of how Katsu is going to respond. We have to act fast, before his forces get to the human world."

_His_ forces now. Funny how she gave more credence to him than to Myotismon himself when it came to planning, even though it was the latter that would ultimately make the final decision in all matters. Katsu only had his way if the vampire let him... which might play to their favor in the long run, if he refused. Hikari feared that boy _far_ more than his current master.

"Well, your last plan seemed to work out perfectly, so I'm all ears. What's next?"

It was something of a relief for Koushiro to not be the only strategist in the team now. With the new duo presenting them with options and ideas, he could focus on the more technical matters and leave the plotting to the others. That gave him more time to rest, as well as look into matters that didn't relate to fighting, like refining the code for some of his programs.

"First, we find the scouts searching the island for us and kill them. Then, if Ken has a solution to the hub problem, we take care of that before heading back to Server to search for the crest."

Gatomon was first to answer, forming the 'harder' half of the strategic duo. She focused on the matters that they knew, the absolutes. Hikari, the 'soft' half, focused on the what-ifs and the maybes.

"By the time we find it, we should know what the enemy is planning to do with those troops. Whether they're going back to the human world, doubling back to try to catch us, or something else entirely. Once we know that, we can decide on our next move. But the crest, and everything standing between us and it, comes first."

Koushiro nodded. He had already figured out most of what they said on his own, as it was mostly just common sense. If they they tried to leave File Island before eliminating the scouts, they'd alert their allies back on Server and the children would run into a much heavier force on arrival. If the hub wasn't secured, the human world could soon be exposed to a potential crisis. And if they didn't get back to Server and get that crest, they couldn't win, and none of the other things would even matter.

So, now it was Koushiro's turn to take the lead again. Three priorities, and they needed to deal with them _fast_. Fast enough to get back to Server before Myotismon could recall his troops to the human world. Whatever he had planned, they needed to be well on their way to finding the final crest before then or else they would lose their momentum...

Koushiro took a few minutes to organize everything in his head and on his computer before calling the team together and informing them of what needed to be done.

First, Gennai. They needed Whamon to ferry them back to Server, so a call was sent out to have him return to the cliff where he dropped the children off.

Second, the scouts. Mimi and Lillymon were sent to Primary Village to locate Leomon. After scouring the island for black gears following the defeat of Devimon, he'd taken up residence near there to help protect the baby digimon from potential danger. He'd kept in touch with various allies around the island and had their help in tracking the scouts that were looking for the children. Once she found out where the enemies were, she could contact the team through her digiviceand then they'd send a group out to hunt the scouts and wipe them from the island. After that, they could meet with the rest of the team at the cliff where Whamon was to pick them up.

Finally, the hub. While the others went to work, Koushiro called Ken to find out what sort of plan he had put together so they could initiate it. Unfortunately, the answer wasn't the miracle solution he had been hoping for. The system had been hard-coded to make sure none of the access codes could be changed, so unless they wanted to take the time to wipe the system and do a full re-installation of all the network software there was no way to simply lock the enemies out.

Knowing they didn't have time for that, Ken prepared an alternative solution. He designed a program that overrode the security processes in the system and gave him full control of it from his home. All Koushiro had to do was gate jump under the hub and install it. Once it was done and he had returned to the digital world, Ken could trigger a full system wipe. It would make it impossible for any of them to gate jump under the hub again, so they'd never be able to use Rogue Protocol for their advantage if the hub fell later, but it was the only plan that secured the hub from Myotismon that didn't take far too much time to implement.

Ultimately, Koushiro went with the boy's plan, accepting the sacrifice as necessary. Rogue Protocol was Katsu and Ken's pet project, after all... if Ken said it had to be done, who knew better than he did? Besides, with five – soon to be six – perfect-level digimon in their group, even if this hub fell then it was possible they could simply demolish it altogether. The amount of damage they did to the previous hub was much higher than they anticipated. Add two more digimon to the group and they could very well make Rogue Protocol obsolete.

Each of the plans was accomplished in quick succession. Just prior to Koushiro's return jump, Taichi and Yamato departed to join Mimi and intercept the scouts. Then once Koushiro was back, his and Sora's partners evolved to their perfect levels to fly the rest of the team to the cliff where Whamon was to meet them.

After about an hour of waiting, they received a call. The scouts were dead. They had been something of a nuisance to deal with, though. Not particularly strong, but fast and annoying, leading the children on a few brief chases before they were finally eliminated, which explained why it took so unusually long to finish them off. The trio was then on their way to join the others and wait for their old friend to return.

A few of the children regretted that they had no real time to say goodbye to their friends on File Island this time, but they took solace in the fact that the final crest would soon be in their grasp and they would be able to commit fully to scouring both worlds of Myotismon and his minions with everything they had. Once the war was over, they'd be free to visit their friends again whenever they wanted, no longer bound by the conflict that surrounded them.

* * *

The enemy scouts were apparently aware of the children's return trip to Server as they were swarming across the coast, searching for any sign of Whamon rising from the water to drop them off. Evading them was impossible, but fortunately Taichi didn't have any plans to do so. Instead, once the coast came into view he ordered every digimon who had a perfect form capable of flight to digivolve and head to the shore, attacking anything in sight.

You want us, Myotismon? _Well, here we are!_

Apparently the scouts hadn't had any intention of actually fighting the children, merely spotting them and alerting their allies elsewhere on the continent. This was evident by the panic they experienced when they came under assault from four high-level digimon at once. This was further amplified once Gabumon digivolved and joined the fray. Before long that group of enemies were all dead and the children were on the move.

More scouts spotted them along the way, turning to flee the moment they did, but like the others they didn't get far. The children continued their march up the coast, killing all enemies in sight until they were fully clear of the territory that was under watch. Once they were free from battle and out of sight, Koushiro immediately got on his computer to activate the program Gennai had given him, cross-referencing it with his map of Server to estimate the general location of the crest. It wasn't exactly the most precise tracking system, but it would be enough to give them a clear idea of where to search... the crest was in the desert.

First, however, Koushiro redirected them toward the nearest dark network node so that he could check the current condition of Myotismon's army. They reached it late in their second day of traveling and immediately Koushiro logged on and began sifting through all the recent records of orders and troop movements with ease...

Huh. This was easier than usual. Security was a lot more lax than the last time he'd been on. Apparently Datamon was having quite a time with Myotismon's systems. Well, all the better for their team in the end.

Oddly, none of the main army had turned back to hunt the children once they arrived. They continued back toward Myotismon's fortress, clearly intent on returning to the human world. The recall wasn't just a trap to lure the children back to Server...

Most of the team was relieved by this news, save Hikari and Gatomon. They both understood what Koushiro did. This was strange... Myotismon wanted the children, not the city. Why would he suddenly start ignoring them now? He hadn't given up hunting them, that was for certain, so that meant there was more to this than they knew...

Katsu, what are you planning? What's in the human world that would be so important to you...?

Hikari could ponder, but no answers were forthcoming so she had to simply continue with the rest of the team, marching toward the desert while they waited for word that the enemies had reached the human world. Once that happened, they'd know what the enemy had planned one way or the other...

Just before reaching the desert, Koushiro logged into another node and contacted Datamon. The desert had been a favorite region for Etemon, so it seemed logical that he'd have a map of all important locations and landmarks. Koushiro didn't explain why they needed it, only that with it they could soon return to the human world to unleash hell on Myotismon. This was enough to satisfy Datamon, so the children soon had their desired map.

From what Koushiro could tell, there were three primary landmarks in the general area near the crest. They wouldn't know which one it was until they got close, but it gave them a more distinct target, and it let him plan their route to avoid the most harsh and desolate regions in the desert. Even so, the desert was still rather large and it would be a several days' journey, by which time the army would be pouring back into the human world in full force...

That was bad. Hikari _knew_ it was bad, even though she didn't know what Katsu and Myotismon were planning. She had no logical explanation, simply a sense of rising dread in the pit of her stomach the closer that army got to the rift.

"Can we fly over it instead? Take a short cut right through the middle of the desert?"

"We _could_, but with the dry heat of the desert, our digimon are going to get exhausted quickly. The long way is safer."

Slow and methodical, that was Koushiro's way. While he understood the importance of speed, taking senseless risks in an area as hostile as this desert was stupid, especially given the potential locations of the crests. Getting _to_ them was only half the issue. Afterward they still needed to get _out_ of the desert and then go to confront Myotismon's armies.

Granted, they could jump straight to the human world, but with Koushiro's laptop serving as their link, they couldn't bring it with them that way. The laptop was also important enough that they couldn't just leave it behind, so if they wanted to fully relocate to the human world they'd have to find a rift so they could take it back with them. They knew that... Hikari knew that, but right then, she didn't care.

"We should fly it. We need to get that crest as fast as possible, before the enemy can get back to our world."

"Why? I understand the need for moving quickly, but if we act reckless we're only going to get ourselves in trouble. We need to be smart about this."

"We _need_ that crest! And we need to get back to our world as soon as possible, before Katsu can do whatever he's planning to do!"

_There_ was that fear that she remembered... that sense of dread and impending doom that everyone seemed to hold whenever Katsu was around. Now she was beginning to truly understand... few people thought of Katsu was a true friend. He was always their superior. An ally, but an uncertain one. Loyal to the war, not to people, so they feared him turning against them... they feared becoming unnecessary. Being one of the rogues, Hikari never had that worry, so she never understood that fear, but now...

Now he was their enemy, and knowing full-well what he was capable of made her more afraid than she'd ever felt in her life. The thought of being captured and turned over to Myotismon... that was bad, but _this_... the thought of a hostile Katsu, bereft of conscience or concern for anything except the destruction of his enemies... _their_ destruction... she'd rather come face to face with Myotismon without a weapon or backup than confront _that_.

"Hikari,"

Of course, everyone else was around, too, and Taichi, having caught wind Hikari's worries, decided to step into the conversation.

"I know how you feel, but we can't just-"

"No, brother, you _don't_."

Taichi's expression dropped a little. That look in his sister's eyes... he'd never seen fear like that before. Fear, dread, panic... even _Devimon_ hadn't terrified any of them that much...

"...but we can't just be reckless. We've been searching for these crests for _years_. We're too close to getting it now, and we need to play this smart. Move slow, get the crest, get out of the desert. _Then_ we can rush in and attack Myotismon with everything we have."

Hikari paused, meeting her brother's gaze with a look that might have reminded Taichi of Katsu's expressions had he ever met the boy. After a few seconds her eyes averted toward the ground.

"Then it's all on you..."

She turned to walk away, putting some distance between herself and everyone save her partner, at least until they were ready to set off again. That was a mistake... a horrible, stupid mistake, but one they were apparently determined to make. So be it... she couldn't change their minds, so she'd have to accept simply cleaning up the mess afterward.

To some of them, the remainder of the trip seemed to fly by. Koushiro kept all their minds occupied with the constant tweaks and shifts in their course to keep them on the easiest path to their destination. He made an exception in one case, taking them flying over one zone that was nothing more than a heat-blasted sand dune. Still, it was small enough that they could get back to one of the more hospitable zones before long and their partners wouldn't get _too_ exhausted.

That cut a little time of the trip, but not enough for Hikari... to her, every minute felt like years, as the constant dread in the back of her mind gnawed at her nerves. When word came that the enemy army had begun its rift-jump back to the human world, the panic set in in full. Almost out of time... and they weren't anywhere near close enough to getting the crest yet.

For the final day, the team paused a little longer in the morning before setting off, making sure everyone was fully rested, fed, and prepared. Then they moved and moved fast, determined to clear the last stretch of desert as fast as possible. They had to skip lunch to do so, but thanks to that they'd arrive an hour later at what they determined to be their final destination – a desert Colosseum with a soccer field in the center of it.

Without any enemies there to cause them trouble, it was simple to locate the crest, directly under one of the soccer field goals. How ironic that would be the final crest they'd find... they reached the goal, both literally and figuratively, at exactly the same time. The final piece of the puzzle, the Crest of Integrity... now they had everything they needed.

When Koushiro sat down with his laptop to begin planning their escape from the desert, however, he'd immediately be contacted by Ken who was, for the first time that any of them had seen, looking worried. Beyond worried, in fact. He was as panicked as Hikari had been since they arrived at the desert.

"What happened?"

"_Myotismon_ happened. The whole barrier front is under siege – literally, _all_ of it! Every sector on the front is being invaded! Satellite imagery from his sectors show they're all but deserted now. He's literally pouring _everything_ he has into this offensive, including _himself_! Some of the Hunter troops spotted Myotismon moving with his army, toward the Hunter headquarters!"

"Oh my god..."

So that was it. _That_ was what Katsu had planned. The children could run and hide in the digital world, making them harder to catch, but in the human world... there was no way to hide. Even if they escaped, the civilians couldn't, so the children _had_ to stay and fight if they wanted to protect people. They had no choice...

"Ken, we have all the crests! We're coming back to the human world!"

Hikari didn't ask for permission, and she wasn't going to. They had to return now, before Myotismon leveled half the city trying to draw the children out. One way or another, she was going. If the others refused to follow, she'd go alone...

"Got it. Setting up a link now. You can gate jump directly to my house."

"Ken, empty your refrigerator. Our digimon are going to need food for this fight. Whatever you have, get it out, _now_."

Ken nodded to Taichi, quickly finishing setting up the link before heading away from the computer to call his mom. Koushiro immediately moved his laptop to a nearby dark corner where nobody randomly passing through the Colosseum could spot it, then gathered the team to him. As soon as everyone was ready, they made the jump... back into the human world, and into the hell of war...

* * *

Final Note: Regarding the name of Jou's crest... the original Japanese has several possible translations, including Loyalty, Sincerity, Reliability, and Honesty. Integrity was a name I came up with on my own that I felt embodied the whole meaning of the crest and all of its translations rather than just one of them. I don't know if anybody else has previously used that name for his crest, but if they did I promise that I didn't steal it from them. It was just an independent choice I made because I felt like the meanings of all the other translations were too narrow and didn't really paint the full picture of what the crest is supposed to represent.


	14. Survival

A/N: And here we are, the last chapter in the 'bridge' section of the story. To be honest, this was the section that was the least planned of the entire story. When I started writing, I knew how it was going to begin and how it was going to end, but when it came to connecting those two... well, it was a bit hectic at times, but it looks like I pulled through. Now, enjoy the chapter as I begin working on the grand finale! (To this book, anyway)

Chapter 14: Survival

**The best weapon against an enemy is another enemy.**

Hikari was impressed by the fortitude of Ken's parents. The sudden appearance of seven children and digimon in their home didn't even seem to shake them. Perhaps they knew what Ken had been up to... or maybe they were simply so desperate for help against the invasion that they just didn't care.

In any case, the family was remarkably well stocked. Apparently they'd prepared for the possibility of the city becoming fully isolated from the outside and had saved up a large supply of non-perishables for just such an occasion. Well, this wasn't that occasion, but it was just as important.

The digimon all quickly ate their fill, save Gatomon who already knew she wasn't going to be joining the fray. Their human partners ate as well, but not as much. As they say, it's bad to eat right before serious exercise...

"The enemies haven't reached this sector yet, so you'll have to take the tunnel. I contacted some of some of the adult members of SDZ and told them you needed a pick up, so they can take you through. All they need is confirmation of the order. Hikari?"

Ken handed her a headset with a microphone as he started linking his computer up to one of the SDZ sub-networks in the Hunter system.

"The rest of you, get down to the ground floor and head outside. They should be there with a vehicle to meet you by the time you get there. Hikari will stay here with me to coordinate SDZ forces across the city – go!"

Hikari took a seat at the computer, the old feeling of the division returning. That felt like ages ago now... she'd gone from a member of the division to an outcast to a rogue with a partner, and now she was returning as their leader. Yet, despite being the official leader she actually had no real say in what was going to happen... the only choice the enemy was giving them was either to fight or to die, and that wasn't really a choice, was it?

"_Ms. Yagami?"_

"I'm here. Get the vehicles down to the entrance of the building, and get the Digidestined through that tunnel, ASAP."

Gatomon hopped up onto her shoulder, lifting one ear to the outside of one of the speakers. The voices weren't as clear to her as they were to Hikari, but with her feline hearing she could make them well enough to understand everything that was happening.

"_The Digidestined?"_

"The Rogues. That's their name in the digital world, and that's what you'll call them now on. And my name is Hikari, not _Ms. Yagami_ or any of that."

Be like Katsu... step one, assert control. The name changes weren't strategically important, but they were symbolic. They represented Hikari's authority over the division. The choice to use the names she gave was a choice to obey her, whether consciously or not, and there was also a second implication to her own name. The others in the Hunters and SDZ had titles – Masaharu, the Commanders, the Director, all of them... except Katsu. No rank, no title. He was simply Katsu, and so it was with Hikari. She couldn't simply be the interim leader until the day that – they hoped – Katsu would return to retake control of the division. That would be no different than if she were still the second-in-command... no, she was _the_ leader now, and she had to fully step into the role that Katsu had vacated, both in action and in the minds of her... followers. Her team. Her _division_.

_Her_ division.

"How many teams do we have?"

"_Thirty plus, scattered throughout the city as widely dispersed as we could get. Those near the front lines found new safe houses as soon as the word came that command had been transferred, in case any of their locations had been compromised by the enemy."_

Another voice. Apparently there were several teams on the network at once.

"Good. How many of them are on this line?"

"_About a dozen. All the teams in the front line sectors are working on pulling out, and the others are busy with covert operations."_

"Stay under cover. Nobody is ready for a direct confrontation with Myotismon yet. Do what you can to feed me intel about enemy troop movements and I'll relay it to the Digidestined. Ken!"

Hikari flipped her mic up, turning back to the door to shout toward the other rooms from where Ken soon emerged.

"Is it possible for the other teams to set up their systems like yours? Can they connect to the digital world?"

Ken actually had to pause and think about that one. That wasn't a question he'd been expecting... the other teams didn't have the special software he did, so they couldn't evade network security as well as he could... it'd be tricky.

"I'd have to cover them so the network doesn't pick them up, but yes, they can. Why do you-"

Hikari flipped her mic back down and stood from her seat, wasting no time with a trivial question and answer session

"Tell them how. Everyone, listen up – memorize these directions and be ready to do this at a moment's notice!"

Hikari passed the headset to Ken, who despite his uncertainty did as ordered. While he was busy talking the teams through all the steps, Hikari got a call on her digivice from Koushiro.

"Hikari, we're on our way to the tunnel. We have only a couple minutes before we arrive in the next sector, so we need directions on where to strike first."

"Got it. Stand by."

Fortunately, the directions were simple enough that Ken finished with time to spare and passed the headset back to her. Okay, that would help them later if the children needed to pull a sudden retreat... now to turn to their defense...

"All teams, report. I need directions from the tunnel that the Digidestined are taking to the closest enemy force. What have we got?"

"_Intel is scarce. All our closest teams are off the grid, so they're not reporting now, but last we heard there is a group of enemies just north of the tunnel, making a run for it. Looks like they're planning to cut off any attempts to retreat."_

"Koushiro, some of the enemies are on their way to you. They may already be there, so be ready to fight as soon as you leave the tunnel. If not, head north – they won't be far."

As soon as Hikari got confirmation from Koushiro that he understood, she turned her attention fully back to the SDZ teams.

"Okay everyone, time to get to work. I need teams set up in Hunter territory, near every tunnel that links to a sector under siege. Get your computers ready to link up to the digital world. We're going to try something a little... experimental."

She proceeded to explain the process in detail, though without being a tech expert she couldn't be sure if there were any technical problems to overcome along the way. In any case, it was clever enough that she hoped it would catch Myotismon off-guard... maybe even Katsu.

Fast travel computers. Link to the digital world, have the chosen children jump through, and then immediately link them to a different location and jump back. Far faster than running or flying across the city, and it gave them a bit of unpredictability since there was no way for Myotismon's army to know which location they'd emerge from until they were already there.

Then she turned to intel, calling on all available teams to report their condition and what had been happening in the weeks since she entered the digital world. Immediately following the division fracturing, they scattered across the city and dropped under the radar while Ken worked on setting up their secure networks inside the Hunter system to allow them to communicate undetected. Since then they had been busy collecting information on the operations of Hunter Command and stockpiling weapons and equipment to eventually make their stand.

Apparently the teams were not as lacking in resources as Hikari imagined. Nearly all of the barges that brought in general supplies for the city also carried a secondary cargo, buried beneath tons of food and other every day products. That was interesting to note, as the Hunters had their own vessels for bringing in weapons and equipment, which meant these additional supplies weren't simply stolen from part of the standard Hunter arsenal. Furthermore, they were... smuggled in. Not black ops, black _market_. The kind of thing the Yakuza might do, and then there was the fact that her first meeting with Ken had been at a dock warehouse...

Apparently Ken and his friends had been busy, too. Well, good. It meant that the division would be well supplied when it finally came time to counter-attack, and so far the Yakuza's record showed them to be more dependable than most of the Hunters...

"Hikari, the first group of enemies is down!"

Hikari flipped up her mic and grabbed her digivice as soon as her brother's voice came through.

"What kind of resistance are you running into?"

"Pretty light. That group was mostly adults. One or two perfects, but nothing too hard to handle. Looks like we got their attention, though. We can already see more on the way."

"Try to push them back from the tunnel and clear the way for people to retreat."

"Hikari, there's no way we can hold the line long enough for this sector to evacuate."

"I know..."

And thus it came down to the hard choice... the one she dreaded. Directly protecting all the civilians was impossible. Their best hope was to evacuate the SDZ teams and draw Myotismon's attention to the Hunters and children, but... that meant leaving behind the rest of the civilians as soon as that task was done.

"...just try to give my teams long enough to get out of that sector, then pull out."

"That means we'll be abandoning civilians here!"

It made her gut twist at the thought that she was even giving such an order... no matter how strategically correct it was, it was still an order to leave people behind. People who couldn't defend themselves, no less... but she knew this is what Katsu would do. Saving civilians wouldn't win the war, and losing meant that all those civilians were doomed in the long run anyway.

_Katsu..._

"Then _attack_, Yamato! Hit Myotismon hard enough that he doesn't care about the civilians! But we _have_ to save our teams or this war is lost, and all those civilians with it!"

_...when you gave these orders, did you hate it as much as I do?_

"Hikari, call us as soon as you know the teams are out of this sector."

Hikari gave Koushiro a brief word of confirmation before putting her digivice down again. The way Gatomon was clinging to her made it clear the feline understood what she was feeling. Damn this war... and damn Myotismon most of all for causing it. Hikari wasn't usually prone to violence or hate... but for that monster she made an exception. The day that he finally died would be the greatest day of her life to date, and perhaps for as long as she lived.

Mic down again. Back to the SDZ teams...

"Did you all catch that?"

"_All of it."_

"How many teams in that sector?"

"_Three, but one of them was closer to the front and may have been caught by Myotismon's forces already. No way to know for sure unless one of the local teams has some intel on them."_

With Katsu heading up command of the enemy army, she suspected that it was so... darn it. Already down one team in that sector, and who knew the condition of the others?

"If there's any teams in sectors bordering the front line that aren't set up at the tunnels, withdraw. Even with the Digidestined fighting, there's no telling how long it will be before Myotismon starts knocking down the next set of barriers, and I want as many teams as possible out of danger before then."

Eventually they would have to make a stand, but for now she wanted to play it safe and make sure the surviving teams were out of harm's way. Besides, the whole invasion seemed a bit... suspicious to her. Katsu and Myotismon were both masters of misdirection, and yet they decided to lay siege to the entire city directly? Something was wrong... obviously, they were trying to draw the Digidestined into a trap, but was that all?

While Hikari pondered that issue, she continued poring over all the data the SDZ teams were able to feed her about Myotismon's troop movements. So far nothing suspicious to either her eyes or her partner's. Direct invasion... his troops had moved through the sectors they were in and they were about to make a push to the next barrier. Civilians were safe for the most part... Hunter troops were receiving most of the enemy's attention.

Before long, word came from the team at the tunnel. One of the SDZ teams from the other sector had come through and reported to them. They were safe. That's one... unfortunately, they didn't have any intel about the other teams in that sector, so there was no telling if the others they were waiting for were even coming at all.

"Brother, how much longer do you think you can hold the line?"

"A few minutes at most. There's just too many coming at us..."

"Try to hold for two minutes. After that, retreat and close the tunnel."

Cutting off the transmission again, Hikari sighed heavily. There wasn't anything she could do here... it was just a blood bath. No clever tactics could help them pull out a miracle victory... but then, she wasn't as crazy-prepared as Katsu was. She didn't have an assortment of miracles stockpiled and waiting for when they might be needed...

The wait was hellish. It wasn't until that moment that she realized most of what she had been saying and doing for the past few minutes had been in an unconscious attempt to fill every second with... something. Talking, listening, relaying information, _anything_! When she had nothing to do, she was faced with the horrible reality that she was helpless. The fighting was worse than ever, the entire city was coming under fire, both the Digidestined and her division were right in the middle of it, and she... couldn't... _do_... _ANYTHING!_

The two minutes weren't even up before Taichi was on the line again.

"Hikari, there's too many enemies coming our way, we have to pull out of here!"

Hikari hesitated for only a moment before she realized that they really had no other option. Even if they could stay, getting the teams out was impossible...

"Alright, go! Our teams wouldn't be able to make it through that crossfire anyway! Ground teams – do you have control of the tunnel?"

"_Roger!"_

"Wait for them to pull out and seal it behind them... and hook up to the digital world while you're at it. Once they withdraw, you do the same. Myotismon's army is going to throw everything they have at that barrier!"

"Withdraw? Hikari, we can't-"

"Tai, trust me. Just... trust me and do what I say, alright? I know what I'm doing."

Or she hoped she did, anyway... the plan was good, that much she knew. The problem was the technical half... she didn't know exactly how all these gate jumps worked. Ken and Koushiro were the ones that figured that stuff out. There was a chance that this rapid-shifting between locations could cause some sort of problem in the system that she wasn't expecting, but if it didn't... then it was the perfect was to catch Myotismon off-guard.

Hikari quickly called the teams at each of the tunnels, designating them according to their role in this operation. Then for the next minute she could only listen and wait. The children rushed into the tunnel, which quickly closed off behind them. As soon as it did, the attacks came on both the tunnel and the barrier. No mistaking it now... they were definitely after the Digidestined. The rest of the city was Myotismon's hostage, used to force the team into a confrontation so he could surround and trap them.

Well, you night stalking parasite... if you want a fight, we'll give you one.

As soon as the team emerged from the tunnel they jumped to the digital world. Step one, done. Now to see if the second half worked as well...

"Team one, withdraw immediately! Team two, link up to the digital world!"

"Hikari, what's-"

"Koushiro, do you have a connection yet?"

The girl verbally ran over her brother, shoving him out of the conversation to grab the techie's attention and draw it to her plan. Come on, Koushiro, you're the genius here. Get the link...

"Got it! We're connected to... looks like a team waiting at the tunnel in the next sector."

"Gate jump, _now!_ Team two, get that tunnel open!"

Voices filled both communication systems. For a moment it seemed like chaos, but after a few seconds it calmed down and she received confirmation that the children had made it back to the human world just fine and were now standing right outside the tunnel taking them to one of the other sectors under fire... one that was rather poorly held by the enemy, as the majority of Myotismon's army was in the next sector over, trying to chase them down, not knowing they were long gone.

Hikari didn't need to give any more orders at that point. Taichi and Yamato took command of the situation and led the children in a full charge through the tunnel and into the sector, demolishing any enemies that stood in their way.

"Taichi, be careful. There's still quite a few enemies in that sector, and once Myotismon realizes where you are the rest of the army will head your way, so be ready to withdraw."

"Don't worry. Hit and run is what we do best."

Hikari nodded to herself. Good... they had changed the nature of the game. They hadn't stopped Myotismon's momentum completely, but they were controlling the dynamic of the battle. Now Myotismon had to react to _them_, not the other way around. Even better, the completed team of children, all with their crests, were performing as well as they hoped they might. Before they had been strong, but they always knew their limits. Now... they really _didn't_ know their limits. They withdrew from the previous sector out of practicality rather than serious need. Their partners were all still in fighting condition and no one was seriously injured...

They could win this fight. It would be long and hard, and it would be a battle of attrition, whittling the enemy down slowly, but eventually they would win it. Even with all the enemy perfects, the children had the advantage. All perfects were not equal in strength... the children's partners could hold their own against _Phantomon_, and he was easily one of the most powerful enemies they might face. So in order to match the children, the enemy would need to send at least six of their more powerful perfect-level digimon at them at once, and if the children could keep rapidly jumping around the city with the system Hikari had developed, the enemy wouldn't have the chance to gather that many of their stronger minions together to strike.

The first enemies fell quickly before the rest of the sector converged on them, but even then it was mostly lower level adults and children attacking. The bulk of the perfect-level army was still in the previous sector, making this sector little more than a killing field... or at least it would have been, had word not come that circumstances had suddenly changed.

"What the hell is going on over there?!"

Shouts came from the digivice, but nothing that Hikari could make out clearly. It would take a good minute of shouting back to get her brother's attention before he'd finally respond with anything that made sense.

"It's... another army? No, a whole division of Myotismon's army, turning against the others! _What?_"

* * *

The children's partners kept up their assault, clearing the streets of all the digimon that tried to attack them, and before long only the enigmatic second army remained. It was mostly comprised of adults and a few children... virtually no perfects, so they needed the Digidestined's help to eliminate the most powerful of Myotismon's minions, but wasn't hard, even without the help of the second army to distract the enemies.

While the children's partners kept themselves busy hunting down a few stragglers from Myotismon's army, the children themselves were approached by one of the digimon from the... rebels? Infiltrators? What were they?

"Who are you?"

"Pumpkinmon. I'm one of the leaders of this sector's rebel squad."

Taichi and Yamato stood ahead of the rest of the team, though the others weren't far behind. None of them were going to miss this explanation, they were all far too curious...

"So you were part of Myotismon's army... how'd you organize a rebellion like this?"

"We were contacted. Somebody in the dark network started calling people he thought might want to kick Myotismon off his big, fat throne. Been at it for a while... we've been gathering people almost since Myotismon first invaded this world."

"The dark network..."

Taichi muttered, glancing back to Koushiro. A nod confirmed his suspicions... only one person who could do that. Datamon... he was building a new army for himself and Etemon, and he was taking it right out of Myotismon's own pocket... clever. It made him stronger while simultaneously weakening their common enemy, _and_ it gave him spies in Myotismon's ranks to help him gather intel in the human world where the dark network might not be able to provide as much info.

"Now that this area's clear, we're withdrawing. We were told to get ready for a major back operation in the digital world."

"_What_ major operation?"

Yamato wasn't one to question anyone who was helping them, but if these guys were working for Datamon then the Digidestined had to know what that little worm was planning so they didn't get caught off-guard down the road...

"The castle. Most of Myotismon's army is here, hunting _you_ guys. There aren't many guards left in the digital world to hold his castle... and a bunch that are there already work for us anyway. We're going to take over and seal his main rift so he can't get back."

"Then Myotismon will be trapped in _our_ world!"

"But he won't be able to get any more reinforcements, and he'll lose control of the dark network. We'll have the advantage then."

Koushiro was quick to cut off Yamato's protests. There were problems with the situation, yes... but ultimately Myotismon had most of his forces in the human world anyway. It wasn't as if leaving the rift open would reduce the number of attacks on the people of Odaiba, but cutting him off from both his reinforcements and his network was a major step to crushing his army completely...

"Alright, go. We'll cover your retreat from here."

Pumpkinmon nodded before motioning to one side, toward the sector opposite the bulk of Myotismon's army, and in all likelihood their next target.

"There's another big squad in the next sector. Help them out if you can. Once we're all together, we'll charge in and take the castle."

Taichi nodded sharply and turned away, contacting Hikari immediately to relay to her everything the team had learned. The operation had taken a sudden and unexpected turn... but by no means a bad one. For Hikari it was fantastic news, because it meant that they could make proper use of her quick-jump gate idea... in fact, if not for that they might not have even been able to meet up with the rebels so far from the core of the enemy army in the first place. That meant her plan may have been, in some ways, responsible for making the entire raid on Myotismon's castle _possible_.

"We're pulling out of this sector. Make sure your teams are ready to jump us to the next tunnel."

* * *

There was the Taichi she loved to hear... he was always passionate, but now there was something more to his voice... a focus and determination that ran far deeper than mere emotion. He had a target... a goal that he knew would be a major step toward winning the war, and he was absolutely determined to achieve it.

The orders were quick enough to relay to the teams. The tunnel was sealed behind the children, this time without any enemies to follow up behind them, and they were soon back in the digital world again. Hikari ordered that team to withdraw regardless of the absence of danger... no telling how long that would last, as she was still suspicious about the true purpose of this direct invasion.

In any case, the Digidestined quickly made a jump to the next sector and rushed in, demolishing everything that stood in their way. Like before, the bulk of the loyalist army met them first before being surrounded by the rebels. There were more perfect-level enemies this time, but nothing they couldn't handle. Four more high-level enemy casualties, not to mention a few that were rebelling and heading back with the others to raid the castle in the digital world... at the rate that Myotismon was losing minions, it would only be a matter of time before they broke the back his army...

Of course, there were also a few problems, not the least of which being that Myotismon's army was now in _her_ sector. The barrier had fallen quickly and the enemies swarmed right in. Fortunately, they were ignoring the civilians for now and it didn't seem like they were on a hunt for Hikari or Gatomon... they were simply going through and clearing the streets of any Hunters that were stupid enough to confront them before heading to the next barrier.

"What's the word on the enemy army?"

"_Uncertain. They don't seem to have any specific targets... they're just attacking anything that shoots at them first and going after the barriers."_

"What about the teams in the previous sectors the enemy took?"

"_We've gotten word from a few of them. They're all okay, Myotismon wasn't hunting for any of them. Not sure about the rest, but right now, with all the chaos in those sectors, it's likely they just haven't been able to connect to the network._

"This is wrong."

Hikari nodded to Gatomon's words and called over Ken to bring up a tactical map of the city for her. They all knew something was amiss, and they had to figure out what before Myotismon and Katsu implemented whatever they were planning...

"Get me a list of all potential targets in Myotismon's path!"

"_We'd have to list every target in the city – Myotismon doesn't have a path, his army is hitting every barrier it can, just knocking our defenses down so he can waltz through the streets and go wherever he wants."_

"Deliberate misdirection."

Gatomon muttered for both Hikari and the teams on the line to hear.

"And rather obvious, too..."

"But it doesn't make it any easier to identify the target."

Gatomon had seen this before a few times. Myotismon took full advantage of the fact that the Hunters didn't stand a chance against him to hit as many targets as possible. Take one sector that matters and two that don't... nobody could find a pattern to guess what he was after until it was too late. Or at least that was the intention, until Katsu somehow caught wind of their search for Hikari. Now it was Hikari's turn to figure out what _Katsu_ was after.

For a few minutes, various teams rattled off names of different locations from the main Hunter Command base to storage warehouses, research sites... nothing that seemed even remotely important from Hikari's view. Nothing that Katsu would consider anything more than more misdirection... finally, fed up with getting nowhere, Hikari removed her headset and called Ken back into the room.

"Ken, what's Myotismon after?"

The boy froze at the question, blinking in confusion. What? She wanted _him_ to figure out what the enemy's goal was by himself? This was what she had teams for!

"How am I supposed-"

"Now! _Right now_, what does Myotismon need most of all to win this war?"

He paused again, contemplating the question. What did he need? A _lot_ of things. But most of all...

"He needs the Digidestined dead."

"And how would he get that?"

Another pause. Lots of options, but most were too esoteric to be of any use. Something practical and doable... something that could actually be accomplished by doing a full-fledged invasion of every sector of Odaiba...

"Trap and surround them."

"But he's _not!_ He's not even _trying_ to right now!"

Gatomon answered as Hikari turned her attention back to the screen. Trap and surround them... he wasn't trying to surround them, though. He was charging in... but Ken was right. He needed the children dead, so why wasn't he hunting them? What was he doing... where was he _going_?

"Where is it... what am I missing here...?"

"Everything... that's the way Myotismon fights. Even his own army doesn't know they're doing things half the time."

But it wasn't just Myotismon. It was Katsu, too... the super-genius boy who could figure out everything everyone was going to do before they-

Everything... they were going to do...

"What... if the enemy was expecting us to use the quick-jump method I came up with?"

After all, it's not like Katsu didn't have the resources to do the same thing when he was leader of SDZ... most likely he'd come up with a similar plan, himself, just in case the situation ever required it, so... he'd know that trapping the kids directly was impossible with them hopping between worlds, jumping from place to place so rapidly...

"They'd do everything they could to cut it off so the Digidestined couldn't escape."

Ken answered and was promptly met with a look of horror on Hikari's features. Cut it off... the hub. The hub that he had targeted before by trying to sneak under it with Rogue Protocol... grabbing the headset again, Hikari quickly called all the teams to report on Myotismon's troop movements again.

"Where's the primary network hub for the Hunters? How far is Myotismon's army from reaching it?"

"_It's just past the Hunter Command base. Only one barrier left between it and the enemy army, and it's starting to come under fire."_

No...

"Team three, get your gate ready! _TAICHI!_"

Hikari nearly threw off the headset and grabbed her digivice, calling her brother again, her shout immediately catching the attention of the entire team and alerting them to the fact that something was VERY wrong...

"Get back to the tunnel, NOW! Whatever you're doing, drop it and jump back to the digital world!"

"Hikari, what the heck-"

"NOW, Taichi! That's an _order!_"

Ordering her own brother... would wonders never cease? Normally she'd never even consider trying such a thing, but in her desperation it was the only thing she could think of to get him and the others moving. Fortunately, it worked, more because of her desperation than because of the order itself, but it still worked, and that's what mattered...

Grabbing the headset yet again, she was soon back on the line with her teams.

"Are there any teams deployed close to the hub? _Anyone_ who can set up a gate for the Digidestined?"

"_Hikari, we **can't**. The bulk of the enemy army is moving this way, and Myotismon is with them! Even the Digidestined wouldn't be able to stand up to that much!"_

No... no, damn it, they couldn't protect the hub against _that_, and without the hub, their network would fall and their connection to the digital world with it!

Hikari held her face in her hands, taking several deep breaths to try to calm herself. She needed a... a response. Not even a solution, as she doubted there was any was to truly solve this problem, but she had to figure out what to do about it nonetheless.

Katsu... I need help... please...

Though it seemed mad to try to silently call for help from the boy who was now her enemy, her wish was nevertheless granted. A familiar darkness seemed to envelop her mind, and as soon as it did her partner withdrew, jumping off her shoulder and onto the floor as she caught the scent of... _whatever_ that was on the girl...

Darkness... no virtues. Put aside courage and friendship... put aside knowledge, put aside love and purity and integrity... put aside everything and find the glimmer... the faint hope. No heroics. They simply had to _survive_. Find the way to do that...

The digidestined can't remain in the human world. They'd be trapped and they would eventually fall. They have to be salvaged. They're too important to sacrifice.

Making sure her digivice was off so the others couldn't hear her, Hikari sent out a new order to the SDZ teams... though this time it was a very different order than what they were expecting.

"Once the Digidestined are back in the digital world, cut the connection. Make sure they can't get back from the digital world."

"_Hikari, what are you-"_

"That's an order."

No explanation would be given, just as with Katsu. Next issue... herself. Hikari was in danger in the human world, but she was also one of the Digidestined... she had a digivice, which was a link to the others. She was the only way they'd get any intel from the human world until they got to Myotismon's castle and made their way through the rift. She had to remain so they could plan for the counter-invasion. Removing her headset, she turned back to the boy who had been something of her patron guardian in the human world since the day she fled from the Hunters.

"Ken... let your parents know I'm going to be staying here a while."

Hikari put her headset on for what would likely be the last time, as Myotismon's army closed in on the hub.

"The network is about to fall. When it does, everyone go into independent operation mode. Save whatever weapons and equipment you have stockpiled. Don't try to confront any of the invaders yet, just hide and keep yourselves safe. The Digidestined won't be able to make it back to our world for a while, so we need to prepare for a long siege... then once they get back, we can organize a full counter-offensive. Do we have any way of communicating once the network is down?"

"The TV station."

Ken answered from behind her, calling her attention back to the door where he was standing and listening.

"SP-2, complete network collapse. Part of the station doubles as a radio tower. We have the means prepared to take over the station so we can transmit emergency orders to all our teams."

"All right... then I'm officially initiating SP-2. Everyone who knows what that means, take your time and be careful, but make sure everything is ready and that the TV station is under our control by the time the Digidestined get back to our world."

"_What about SP-1?"_

"What's SP-1?"

"_Catastrophic barrier failure. All teams are to switch to street deployment and begin a guerrilla campaign against the invaders."_

"Scrap it. We're not strong enough to fight back. We stay in hiding until the children return, then we hit back all at once."

"_Our team is close to the tower. We'll begin prepping for immediate takeover as soon as we have a clear-"_

"_Ma'am, the enemy is at the hub! Looks like they're beginning their attack..."_

"Understood. Where are the Digidestined?"

"They just jumped back to the digital world, and we closed off our connection. They're stuck there..."

As if on cue, Koushiro's voice came through her digivice, apparently to alert her to a problem, not realizing that she was the one who created it...

"Hikari, we don't have a link back to the human world. All the gates are currently down."

Hikari paused a moment before reaching over to push a button on her digivice, cutting off the connection. Sorry, everyone... but this is for your own good. I won't let you sacrifice yourselves here. You did enough already... you hit Myotismon hard, bled his army, and saved quite a few rebels who will be able to make a difference back in the digital world. But I know your digimon will be too tired by now to keep up the fight much longer. You need to rest. Next time... next time we can finish the business we started today.

"Hikari..."

The girl ignored her partner's voice for a moment, turning her attention back to the teams on the network.

"Thank you, everyone, for your loyalty. Stay safe out there..."

She paused, listening to all the voices chime back through the headset in confirmation. A few seconds in there was a data hiccup and a distortion in the audio, followed by a brief break a few seconds later. Then, at last, the connection died, both to the audio and to the network as a whole. Or rather, it was more accurate to say the connection was simply gone. The hub was down, and with it the entire Hunter network.

Removing the headset, Hikari placed it gently on the desk, simply staring at the blank screen ahead of her as her partner hopped up into her lap. She could sense the emotion that hung around the girl... that brief lapse into that dark place had left her feeling drained and somewhat... detached from herself. Her thoughts wandered for a moment as she contemplated the situation she was now in. They averted one crisis, but now she was stuck in the human world... did that mean she was going to be the next target? Were they going to scour the city in search of her, or were they simply going to assume she was still in the digital world?

Either way, her link to her teams was gone. She wouldn't be able to relay orders to anyone for quite some time... she was alone in the human world, surrounded by enemies, with only her adult-level partner to protect her. There, for the first time in a long time, she felt like a normal girl... a normal, scared girl, surrounded and trapped by enemies on all sides.

Holding tight her partner, who returned the gesture, Hikari could only wait and hope for the best... for the first time, she had no idea what to do or what was going to happen next. Certainly, the Digidestined would return and they could start the fighting again, but until then she had to survive... and she had no idea how she would do so, or what she would be surviving against.

That was the only true flaw in her plan... now the enemy – Katsu and Myotismon – controlled the next stage of the war, and all she could do was wait and see what they were going to do next...


	15. The Last Mile

A/N: Though I already replied to 4everDestined's review, I want to repeat what I said here to all the general readers so that everybody knows what's going to follow once this fic ends. Once this book is wrapped up I'm going to go on a brief hiatus to re-watch most of Season 2 before I start on the second book of the series, (Yes, yes... I know. Spoilers about what that book will contain. I don't care.) and said book is going to be posted as a separate fic, as will all future books in the series.

In addition, about halfway into writing this chapter I had an idea to write up a short "Book Zero" before starting on the second book. It would mostly revolve around the events immediately following the battle of Infinity Mountain, filling in some of the blanks about... certain things that happened. (which I won't go into yet, as they haven't been mentioned in the main story) If you're interested in seeing me write it, let me know (doesn't even have to be a review. Send me a PM if you like). If you're not sure, just wait and keep reading. I'll mention it again in a later chapter, after the aforementioned 'things' have actually been revealed in the story itself, so you all can decide then.

Chapter 15: The Last Mile

**There is no avoiding war; it can only be postponed to the advantage of others.**

Though the Digidestined moved as quickly as possible to escape the desert and reach Myotismon's castle, it would still take roughly a week before they'd be in place to make a move. A week of waiting... a week from hell.

After the barriers fell, the attacks ended. The civilians were left untouched, at least for now. Hikari and Ken both assumed the enemy was merely waiting for the return of the children so they could use the people against them as hostages or something of the sort.

As for the enemies, they disappeared after the battle. Once the barriers were gone, they simply scattered, apparently leaving the civilians alone in peace, though it didn't take long for anybody to realize the truth. They were still there... everywhere. Perched atop towers, skulking in back alleys... people spotted them occasionally, only to have them slip out of view a few moments later.

By the end of the first day, fear had swelled in the city enough that an emergency government order was released across the city on all TV stations. All civilians were to remain home unless absolutely necessary. All nonessential businesses were to be shut down indefinitely, until the danger had passed.

The streets were active during the hours around noon as people moved about, buying groceries or taking what little safe time they felt they had to visit loved ones in the hospital. All emergency service buildings turned into miniature bunkers. Their staff, whether it be medical, law enforcement or otherwise, took to making their workplace their permanent residence so they didn't have to go home. The less time they were out and on the streets, the better.

Not that the law enforcement saw much work. Crime was at an all time low, with some known criminals even turning themselves in, preferring to be in the safety of a jail cell than out fending for themselves on the streets.

Myotismon made certain to help keep the fear alive as well. Every night for the first few days there would be at least one attack in each 'sector,' though with the barriers down there was no real distinction between sectors anymore. The attacks were small and isolated, but never harmless... someone would end up severely injured or dead, with no apparent rhyme or reason as to how he chose targets. He simply killed people because he could, and because it kept the city consumed in fear.

The Hunters were powerless to fight back. The majority of the Hunter army had disappeared after the attacks on the barriers, scattering throughout the city, ditching their uniforms and hiding their weapons so as to not be identified on sight by the invaders. Some remained active, holed up in the Hunter Command base, behind the only barrier that was still functional – an emergency defense shield built around the base. It was meant to serve as a last-ditch effort to keep the enemies out if it came to that... instead, it only served to keep them in. The largest of the enemy digimon, those who couldn't easily hide about in alleys or rooftops, patrolled the streets around the base, ever on the lookout for any Hunters that may try to pass through the barrier either way. Civilians went completely unnoticed... perhaps to remind them of how little threat they were to the invaders.

Hikari had never felt so claustrophobic in her life. She spent the entire week indoors, curtains closed and away from doors to avoid any chance of being spotted by digimon spies among the streets. The city had become her prison. The apartment, her cell. She didn't even know if Myotismon was aware she was still in the city, which made it that much worse. Was the silence a sign that the enemy was simply waiting for the other Digidestined to return, or were they prowling about the city in search of her?

In the latter half of the week, her questions were answered, at least in part. Word on the street was that people were being rounded up by the hundreds, starting with the areas closest to Myotismon's territory. Granted, the entire city was technically his territory now, but the large regions filled with deserted buildings and barricaded streets were still regarded as the areas most dominantly his. The fact that the enemy patrols now covered the entire city and no longer guarded those sectors only made them that much more disturbing. Before, stepping foot in those sectors had been a death sentence to anyone stupid enough to try. Now... now it was like massive ghost town. The buildings were empty, the streets were deserted... nobody knew what had happened to the people that had lived there, but the fact that hundreds of people were being rounded up and taken there by Myotismon... they weren't simply dead. There was no reason for Myotismon to round up people just to kill them. He could just slaughter them in the streets or in their homes. That meant they were likely facing a fate even worse than death.

Hikari very nearly panicked at the news, fearing for the safety of her own family before Ken reassured her... since the activation of SP-7, he'd begun slowly evacuating the all the families of the Digidestined that were still in the city, with the help of the Yakuza to smuggle them out. Now the only ones that remained were Yamato's parents and Jou's father. The former because they were trapped, one in prison and the other in the Hunter HQ. The latter was simply stubborn to leave. He was determined to stay and keep providing medical aid to people, particularly the Yakuza, who found themselves in harm's way more often than anyone except the Hunters.

On the digital side of things, there was little news of any actual importance. There were no threats aside from a few random, carnivorous digimon looking for a meal, but they were nowhere near as dangerous as Myotismon's minions had been. All the enemy armies were already withdrawn to the human world, and any that were left in the digital world most likely retreated to the castle to defend it as soon as word came that it was under siege.

With no real threats to speak of, the journey to Myotismon's castle was just that. Hours of traveling through now-deserted regions of land once populated by peaceful digimon that were now either dead or forcibly recruited into Myotismon's army. Most likely many of those digimon were now at his castle, capturing or holding it for the rebels, though it was impossible to say. They had tried contacting Datamon several times as they traveled but had received no response.

Hikari spoke to the other children a few times during that period, starting after they escaped the desert. The first conversation was the worst... they needed an explanation for what had happened, and she gave it... as she expected, they were angry, especially her brother. She had not only put herself in danger, but she cut them off and left them stranded in the digital world without even a word of warning. Granted, she was right to assume they probably would have stayed in the human world if they knew what the situation was, but that didn't help calm anyone.

The only ones who understood were Mimi and Koushiro, for completely opposite reasons. For the former, she understood Hikari's motives... protect the Digidestined at any cost, even if it meant sacrificing herself. It wasn't a unique attitude among their group. The only difference was that they all had partners that could reach their perfect state of evolution, whereas Hikari didn't, so she was in greater danger than anyone else would have been.

As for the latter, he simply worked the numbers. Hikari was right. They would have been trapped and killed had they stayed, so they had to return to the digital world. Had she gone with them, they would have had no way of getting intel on the condition of the city, so staying in spite of the danger was also the right decision.

The others were all still angry, though, for various reasons. Her somewhat underhanded tactics felt like something of a betrayal, even if they understood... or perhaps moreso _because _ they understood, but no explanation would be forthcoming to Hikari. Not directly, anyway...

"It wasn't a betrayal, Taichi. She did what she thought was necessary and, quite frankly, she was right to do so."

It was strange for Koushiro to be playing diplomat. He never really did well at making people work together, he just presented facts. More often than not he divided people _more_ with the things he said, not less. This case was only unique because he stood firmly on Hikari's side. The numbers supported her, so he did as well.

"She hid the truth from us! She could have at least _told_ us what she was going to do! She's acting like she doesn't trust us!"

"Would _you_? If you were in her shoes, would _YOU_ trust you not to stay in the human world, even if it's suicide?"

Taichi was silent. He, at least, couldn't argue Koushiro's point. He was the most reckless and headstrong member of the group. Suicidal danger made him _more_ likely to charge into it, not less.

"She could have _tried_. She could have at least contacted _you_. You said it yourself – it was the right decision. So why didn't she trust us to realize that?"

"She's becoming more and more like Katsu. Quiet, paranoid, distrustful of everyone..."

Sora and Yamato answered where Taichi couldn't. They were much more calm and rational, and though they may not have been willing to let Hikari stay, they also wouldn't have remained in an impossible situation.

Jou stood aside, silent, eyes averted from the rest of the group. He wanted to speak... he wanted to say so many things about this, but... he couldn't. He couldn't because deep down, at some level, he knew why they were _really_ angry. This feeling, this... betrayal... it had been felt before, though under very different circumstances.

"How would you even know? You've never met Katsu before, all you know is stories Hikari told you!"

"I've heard enough to know what kind of person he is! And how much Hikari idolized him... she tries to emulate him. She thinks that'll help us win more."

"And she hasn't been wrong yet!"

Finally, Mimi had heard enough. Everyone only seemed to be getting more angry as they argued, especially Koushiro and Yamato. She wasn't going to let the group become splintered over this... especially now, on the verge of what looked to be the final days of the war, when unity was more important than ever.

"Everyone, be quiet. This fighting isn't getting us anywhere."

"Why? Because you don't want to deal with the what's happening and how Hikari-"

"No, because you're not upset about Hikari acting like _Katsu_,"

Mimi cut Yamato off suddenly, her words silencing the entire group. Yamato and Sora met her gaze with confusion. Jou glanced over, catching the implication of her words better than anyone, knowing what was to follow... the truth they all wanted to ignore.

"You're upset about her acting like _us_."

Another pause hung in the air between the group before realization started to flash across their faces, one by one. Taichi was first, followed by Koushiro, Sora... and then finally Yamato.

"She lied to us because she knew if she told the truth we wouldn't listen. That is the _exact_ same thing we all did, three years ago... to Takeru. And it makes you angry, because it makes you feel guilty – because even though Hikari did the exact same thing we did, _she_ didn't run away."

Mimi stepped forward, slowly closing the gap between herself and Yamato. It was rare to ever see Mimi angry anymore... in some ways, she was the opposite of the way she had been three years ago. More than any other, her personality had been transformed by the death of Takeru. While the others rapidly matured, putting aside many of their childish interests to devote themselves to the war, Mimi became the embodiment of selflessness, sometimes to an almost dangerous extent. She almost never got angry, never talked about her own needs... everything became about helping others, whether physically or emotionally, to take care of the group and to keep them strong. Fear made them flee Devimon once... grief after their loss made them nearly give up... and she became determined never to let that happen again. She took all that pain and grief onto herself, devoting herself completely to her friends. Their survival and happiness was what she lived for now. Their happiness and sadness became her own, and all her own feelings were simply buried.

Nobody could face Mimi's anger now. They could all be angry for their own selfish reasons, but not her... an angry Mimi was like the wrath of God. She saw through them all and often knew them better than they knew themselves... if she was angry, she was almost certainly right to be and nobody dared claim otherwise.

"How _dare_ she? How dare she be better than we were? How dare she imitate someone like Katsu – someone she can criticize and praise in the same sentence? How dare she _admit_ her flaws and remind us about our mistakes! If she just lied or defended herself, it would be so _easy_! If she acted selfish like _us_ we could hate her for it, just like we hate ourselves, but we _can't_!"

By the time Mimi stopped directly in front of Yamato, Jou had turned away completely. Sora had retreated to Taichi's side, though the boy soon moved to switch places with her, taking her previous place at the side of his best friend. As for Yamato... he couldn't say a word. He couldn't move, he couldn't do _anything_. He was too afraid, being under Mimi's searing gaze... running away felt like a death sentence.

"Even after three years, we still can't forgive ourselves for what we did... and we don't want to forgive her either, but she doesn't give us a choice. How dare she be _too perfect_ to hate... and even worse, how dare this perfect girl not hate _us_ for what _we_ did. People who do the kind of things we did deserve to be hated... and _she_ deserves to be hated because she doesn't give us an excuse... to keep hating ourselves."

Mimi took one final step forward, bringing her face mere inches from Yamato's, causing the boy to almost stumble back to get away from her. But Taichi was there at his back, a hand on his shoulder to keep him steady, standing beside his best friend – his brother – in the worst of times...

"How _dare_ she forgive us? How dare she make us feel like we should forgive _ourselves_?"

There were no words. The silence that followed hung and never lifted. Finally, Yamato's gaze fell away to the ground, unable to face her any longer, and when it did she promptly turned and walked away. Yamato soon found a seat with Taichi and Sora as Mimi moved toward the trees to isolate herself from the rest of the group. There would be a brief pause before Koushiro stood and followed her. He didn't know exactly why he was doing it, only that he had a choice between two places to be. He could be with Mimi, or he could be with everyone else, and he quite preferred the former. He preferred standing with the camp he knew was right... and _everyone_ knew Mimi was right, even if they couldn't face it with everything it implied...

For a moment he thought he might have lost her, that she had wandered off far into the woods with Palmon, where nobody could find her, but soon both he and Tentomon caught a sound... one that they hadn't heard in years, but it was nevertheless impossible not to recognize.

Crying. Mimi was crying. The sound was somewhat concealed by the noise of a nearby stream, but it was clear enough to follow back to the source, which sat curled up at the base of a tree next to the same stream, perhaps hoping it would make her impossible to hear.

Palmon noticed the pair as soon as they approached. She tried to speak, but she had nothing... what could she say? Words alone could set this right... even after three years the wounds were still raw, and far worse than most for the simple fact that they were self-inflicted. By comparison, reconciling warring friends was easy, but how to do you reconcile somebody warring against themselves?

Yet Mimi still tried... she consistently tried, every time the matter arose, pouring everything she was into healing those gaping emotional wounds, and hurt herself in the process. Their pain was her own... even the pain they didn't show, and she had carried that pain for three years. They all wore their own wounds and battle scars, but she wore not only her own wounds, but the wounds of the entire group...

Three years. Three years of trying to carry the Digidestined. Three years of trying to save them from themselves as they all fought to save the world. Three years of tearing her own self apart, of wearing the emotional scars of all the children on her heart...

Three years... was a long time.

She finally noticed Koushiro as he moved to kneel beside her. He didn't even have the chance to register what was happening before she suddenly grabbed him and buried her face in his shoulder as her body was rocked by another wave of tears.

For a moment, he had no idea what to do. He could only kneel there, feeling awkward and dumbfounded for several seconds before he gathered enough sense to wrap his arms around her and hug her as tightly as he could. Beyond that... he knew nothing. _She_ was the emotional expert... he was just a human computer. He could only sit and hope that his presence might give her some sense of comfort to relieve the pain she was feeling.

It was at least an hour before they'd return to the rest of the team. Half of that time was spent with her tears. The other half was spent in silence, simply embracing beside that tree as Koushiro gently stroked her hair. He wasn't sure why he was doing that... only that he was doing what Mimi once told him to do in moments of severe emotional stress. He did what came naturally, without thinking about it. Whether it was right or not... it didn't matter. Either way, at least it was honest, and nothing was more dangerous to the human heart than a lie, especially a lie that someone tells themselves.

When they returned, they found that the others had gone off to gather food and were already back and at work preparing it. After that talk nobody was really feeling especially hungry, but their partners needed it, especially the ones that did most of the legwork in their traveling.

The silence remained even as they ate, until they finally set off again. There was still a lingering anger, though not at each other so much as themselves. Nevertheless, they didn't have time to dwell on it yet. There was still daylight to burn and land to traverse, so they needed to get moving. Perhaps they would speak of this again in one of the coming days once they stopped for the night... perhaps.

After a few days, Hikari sent word about what was happening in the human world. Koushiro had theories as to why people were being rounded up, but even he admitted that it didn't matter. Not anymore. The enemy would be waiting for them when they returned no matter what they did, and the civilians were still in danger no matter what was happening to them. Either way, they still had to rescue those people, and that meant charging head first into the eye of the storm.

Whether by coincidence or some deliberate action, shortly afterward they would finally get word back from Datamon. The siege of the castle hadn't gone exactly as planned. It turned out Myotismon had a few safeguards in play. In particular, his gargoyle collection wasn't so much a collection as a miniature petrified army, and as soon as the rebels broke into the castle they began waking up. Even so, progress was being made. Apparently, stronger digimon were harder to petrify, so the majority of the 'statues' were weak enough for the less evolved rebels to stand up to them. For those that were stronger, Etemon and Datamon dealt with them personally, along with the few other perfects they had on their side.

Despite the siege, Myotismon apparently paid no attention to the condition of his castle, though this came as no surprise. Either he felt the rebels were no threat or he wanted them to seize it so that the the children could return to the human world easily. Maybe both.

At any rate, the castle was almost secured, though the strongest of the loyalist guards still held the chamber that housed the rift. Ever the opportunist, Datamon contacted the children in hopes of working out another deal: Assistance in wiping out the enemies in exchange for free access to the rift. Not that the children seemed to have much choice... they were going through that rift either way. Working with Etemon and Datamon just made the job slightly easier.

Word was sent, intel was exchanged... one more day and the Digidestined would be at the castle. Time to get the gears moving. Hikari had been holed up in Ken's apartment long enough... now she was going to rejoin this war, and for the last time.

Ken called the Yakuza and had them take word to all of the closest SDZ teams. They needed help, and _now_. While they went out to the streets to contact the necessary people, Ken activated an assortment of DG sensors that he had installed all throughout the apartment building during the last three years. It was a very sensitive network, easy to damage but extremely useful when it was kept in good shape. It could detect the power level and general location of any data-based organism or object in the entire building. According to his scans, there were only two such things in the entire building, both close together and both in his family's apartment – Gatomon and Hikari's digivice.

So they were safe. No spies in the building, so they took the opportunity to act. Ken contacted the building administration and called them to the main floor, giving them a list of instructions to follow to make sure their meeting location was secure. They insisted on knowing what this was about, but Ken refused to answer until they were speaking in private.

By the time the meeting was prepared, word had gotten around most of the building that something was up. The security around the administrative office was more like that of a military facility than an apartment complex, minus the armed guards. Quite a few people were waiting at the ground floor when Hikari and Ken emerged from the elevator, with the former wearing an oversized jacket that hid her face and probably had enough room inside for a whole extra person. They went straight to the office, closing the locking the door behind them, to be greeted by the entirety of the present building administration.

"Alright, can you _please_ tell us what this is about and why we're doing things that might draw attention to us from the invaders out in the streets?"

Hikari quickly unzipped her jacket and Gatomon took a deep breath as she hopped out of it and onto the desk. Hikari also grabbed her digivice, showing it to those in the room, all of whom recognized it from the various news reports they had seen of the Rogues.

"I'm one of the Rogues. Number seven. I've been hiding with Ken since the invaders took over and I need help. The rest of the rogues have been trapped in the digital world, but they're about to return. Tomorrow, they come back to this city in full force to take it back from Myotismon. What I need is a place to meet with several Hunter teams to coordinate our counter-offensive where we won't be overheard by spies. I want this whole office cleared, and people waiting by the doors for anyone who comes in, to send them here if they're Hunters."

Hikari was quick and methodical. No nonsense, just facts, and she wasn't about to take no for an answer. Worst case scenario, she was prepared to have Gatomon hold the people in the room hostage while she and the few remaining Yakuza took over the building by force, but she was fairly sure it wouldn't come to that. These people wanted to end the war, and she was giving them news that the Hunters and the Rogue children were joining forces for a full counter-attack to finally get rid of Myotismon and end this war. In their current state of desperation, nobody would say no to her.

"...alright. We'll get everything set up. How do we know who's a Hunter and who isn't?"

"A code. When they walk in they'll say they were told to ask for Takeru. Send them directly here."

Takeru... to most people that was just a name. Most didn't know Takeru Ishida was one of the Rogues, or any of the history that went with him. Not even the Hunters knew... granted, a few in the higher ranks knew that Masaharu had two children who disappeared that summer at camp, but only one of them had appeared with the Rogues. Most assumed the other had simply been killed by rogue digimon during a random attack.

The men nodded in assent and starting setting up everything immediately. After that, Hikari took full control of the office space, turning it into her own private command room. No maps, no computers, but she didn't need any of that. At its heart, the war was all about people... and she had plenty of people on her side. People she trusted with her life.

That was the main difference between her and Katsu. While Katsu personally directed every facet of the war that he could, Hikari delegated most of her authority. Her teams were well-trained... they ought to be, they learned under the best. They only needed to know their mission, and they would carry it out while Hikari took care of her own objectives.

The teams all arrived before long and began relaying what information they could to her. The Hunters had managed to patch together rough intelligence network using drop off points to deliver messages between teams in the form of pen-and-paper letters. It was slow and tedious compared to what they were used to, but it got the job done. Hikari hadn't thought there would be much intel _to_ relay, but she was pleasantly surprised to find that the teams had been busy with their own plan after going into independent operation mode.

Myotismon's troops had emptied all the sectors previously under his control, likely due to the lack of people there. With his reduced numbers after the Digidestined's attack, he needed all the troops he could in the populated parts of the city to keep watch everywhere. However, this also left a critical gap in his defenses that he had overlooked. While the Hunter network was down, _his_ network wasn't. His hub had fallen, but as Datamon mentioned he apparently had a backup system in place. It was vastly inferior to the main system in both speed and scope, but it connected to the digital world, and that was all that mattered. Of course, nobody in their right mind would try charging into Myotismon's territory to connect to the digital world...

It was fortunate, then, that Hikari and the SDZ teams _weren't_ in their right minds. Immediately Hikari contacted her brother to relay the news.

* * *

"This would have helped us a lot more a few days ago. We've almost reached Myotismon's castle. We don't _need_ another way back to our world."

Yamato was the first to respond, though the response from the rest of the team was almost unanimous. As it stood, attacking the castle was still the best option as it would allow them to take control of the rift out of Myotismon's hands and trap him in Odaiba.

"Maybe not... Myotismon knows we need that rift to get back. He's going to be waiting for us on the other side."

Taichi muttered back, clearly half lost in thought. Yamato knew that look... they all did. He was about to do something crazy, impulsive, and utterly, heroically stupid.

"Taichi..."

Yamato wouldn't have the chance to stop his friend before he started speaking again, knowing what needed to be done. The moment was coming together... he could feel it. The last time he'd felt like this was three years ago, standing beside Yamato on that frozen piece of File Island as it floated back toward Infinity Mountain.

Destiny. That was what he was feeling. The deciding moment of this war was rapidly approaching, just like last time... only that last time they had failed to follow through, along with every day since then, instead withdrawing and playing it safe out of fear.

No more. This time they would fulfill their destiny. This time they would finish the job, like they should have finished it when Takeru called them to do so after their first defeat at the hands of Devimon...

"Yamato, take the team and gate jump back to our world. The Hunters need help to mobilize – give it to them. Clear the way and kill as many enemies as you can before Myotismon realizes what's happening. I'll meet up with you later... then we can trap Myotismon and finish him off together."

"Meet up with us? Where are _you_ going to be?"

Taichi's eyes shifted up to meet his fellow leader's, showing that crazy gleam they all far too familiar with...

"Myotismon's castle. I'm going to help them secure the rift... then I'm going to finish off Etemon."

"What?! Taichi, that's suicide, you can't just go _alone!_"

Of all the children, it made sense that Sora would be the one to panic most at that idea. One of the boys she loved was about to run off on a suicide mission, with no way of getting backup while she and all the others were supposed to go back to the human world and organize Hunter troops? Like hell...

"Think about it! This is the best chance we have to really _end_ this! We know where Etemon is, and he's not going anywhere! Myotismon isn't expecting us to be able to use a gate, Etemon won't be expecting my ambush... we can finish off _everyone!_ Myotismon, Etemon, Phantomon, Datamon – EVERYONE! We can end all the fighting _right here!_"

Nobody responded. What he was offering was beyond tempting... the idea that they could bring an end to the entire conflict in a single day, wrap up every loose end... but what were the risks? Who knew what kind of traps were waiting for them, either in the castle or the human world? And could Taichi really win against Etemon alone?

Koushiro stood, taking several steps toward Taichi to stop at his side.

"Alright... you're the leader, Taichi. I'll follow whatever you say, but... I'm going with you."

"No, you're not. The others need-"

"No, they _don't_! Etemon isn't alone, he has Datamon at his side, and you're _not_ fighting two perfects at once. Besides... I have unfinished business with that walking scrap pile, and once he's dead along with all the guards in the castle – _including_ those that watched Myotismon's network for him – I'll have full, unrestricted access to the Dark Network. That much intel is too valuable to ignore."

There was a pause as glances were exchanged between team members. This whole plan was dangerous and daring to the extreme, but nobody questioned it aloud... maybe because they _wanted_ it to work. They wanted to believe this sort of thing was possible. They wanted to believe that their title, the Digidestined, was more than just a word... and that this was the time for destiny.

"...okay. Koushiro goes with me and we seize the rift. I finish off Etemon, Koushiro finishes off Datamon, then he hacks the Dark Network for anything we could use, passes it on to the rest of the team, and we go back to the human world to rejoin everyone else. Yamato... I won't tell you what to do. Talk to Hikari and the Hunters. Do whatever you have to help them, and make sure everything's ready by the time we get there. I trust you."

Taichi took a step forward toward his battle brother, reaching his hand up seize the one that met it halfway. Each locked their grip around the other's hand in a familiar gesture that they'd shared since the early days of the war. At first it was a sign of truce, to put aside their mutual differences for the sake of the team. Now it was a sign of brotherhood. For all the problems they had and all the things that might stand between them, they shared something that nobody else in the team could truly relate to – leadership. They carried the Digidestined through danger and adversity, making life or death decisions that would affect not only their team but the entire war. Everyone in the team was necessary... but knowing first hand the kind of responsibility that the leadership role held, there was no one that the two of them respected more than the other.

"Save the digital world."

Yamato muttered, earning a brief nod from Taichi.

"Save humanity."

Taichi muttered in reply as Yamato returned the gesture.

"Meet in the middle..."

"...and bring this war to an end."

Yamato and Taichi finally concluded before breaking their grip. Immediately Taichi grabbed his digivice, glancing to the faces of everyone in his team as they each gave their nods of approval.

"Hikari, did you catch all that?"

"Every word."

* * *

Hikari stood with Ken and the SDZ team leads from the local area, exchanging glances occasionally as they listened to Taichi lay out his plan to everyone.

"I'm giving orders to my people now. I'm sending my best team to Myotismon's territory to set up a connection. They'll be moving really slow to avoid detection, so it'll take a while for them to get there... set your clocks for three hours."

Hikari glanced to Ryo, who gave her a solemn nod. She hated the idea of sending him alone with just Hunters and their – frankly, _pathetic_ – weapons as backup... against a perfect-level digimon they had no hope of survival, but she couldn't go with them, and even if she could she knew it wouldn't do much good anyway. No crest made her useless in a fight... she just had to trust that this boy could get the job done. After all, he was good enough that Katsu trusted him to train _her,_ so he had to be pretty good in the field.

"I'm going to the TV station with Ken and the rest of the SDZ troops we have. We're going to set up to transmit emergency orders to the city. Call as soon as you're ready for the Hunters to start moving."

"Understood. See you soon, sister."

Hikari cut off the transmission and quickly relayed the orders to everyone in the room, though most already knew what they needed to do. Soon she was heading out the office doors alongside Ken, Gatomon, and the remaining SDZ soldiers. They began filing out carefully, as their various covers allowed, in order to avoid suspicion from any enemies that might be watching outside.

While Hikari waited for her team's turn, she briefly returned to Ken's family's apartment to grab a few things and say goodbye to his parents... just in case she didn't...

Distracting herself from those thoughts, she took a moment to glance out toward the streets. It was somewhat cloudy... a gray day, possibly turning to rain later on. Perhaps that was suitable... no sunlight as the last hours of the war fell on the streets, to be followed by the rain... a crying sky.

It was approaching noon. Three hours until the fighting started, and after that...she couldn't be certain, but she strongly suspected with the speed of their previous battles that it would be over by evening. So... the last sunset of this war. The last bleeding sky over this city before it was all done.

Wait for us, Katsu... wait for _me_. I'll save you... I promise.


	16. Execution

A/N: Okay, apparently I owe you all a slight apology. I thought I had been pretty good about double-checking my sources on names and such, but apparently whatever source I originally found for the name of Yamato and Takeru's dad was wrong. With this book approaching the end, it's a tad late to go back and edit all the previous chapters to fix the name, so I'm just going to leave it as is. Fortunately, I rather like Masaharu as a name, and if I'm going to be stuck with wrong name, at least it's a good one. Also, thanks to M. N. Nep for pointing out this error. Until your review, I didn't even realize the name was wrong.

And don't anybody ask what my original source was. I tried to do a search for it and couldn't even find it again, so I have no idea. -_-

Chapter 16: Execution

**Love has its place, as does hate. Peace has its place, as does war. Mercy has its place, as do cruelty and revenge.**

The team divided several miles outside the castle. The Hunters opened the gate right on schedule, and as soon as they did Yamato led his group through to start on their fight in the human world. For Taichi and Koushiro, however, their fight had been in the works for a long time... years, since the moment Etemon set foot in Odaiba and started his invasion. At the end of that invasion he fled with the last scraps of his army and went into hiding in the digital world. That war never truly saw its end.

Today, however, it would...

Once the rest of the team was gone, Koushiro unplugged from the Dark Network and began configuring a number of programs on his computer, holding Taichi back from advancing yet.

"What _is_ all that?"

"Security. Datamon is a hacker – one of the best I've ever seen, and the whole digital world is made of data. From what he said, he and Etemon have been in control of most of Myotismon's castle for at least a few days, and I'm positive he's set up some kind of security there."

"So what are we going to do about it?"

"_We_ aren't doing anything. _You_ two are going to deal with Etemon and everyone else in the castle. While you do, I'm going to hack into Datamon's network and release a virus to disable whatever security he put in place..."

"While I make sure Datamon doesn't get away."

Tentomon added at the end as Koushiro finished prepping his programs. This wasn't like most fights... this was a four-part battle. For once the children and their digimon weren't going to be fighting on the same fronts. The two digimon would face off against their respective rivals while Koushiro kept Datamon's security busy and Taichi put all his charisma to work on the other rebels. If it was only Datamon and Etemon they were up against, they could win, but if they had an entire army distracting them, they might have problems. Fortunately, if the rebels hated Myotismon, chances were they'd hate Etemon too. At the very least, they wouldn't be sorry to see him die, so they'd be willing to stand aside while Taichi and Koushiro dealt with him and his advisor.

Wrapping up his work, Koushiro closed his laptop and got up, calling Tentomon to evolve to his adult form so they could quickly make it the rest of the way to the castle.

When they reached the gates, they would find the outer walls and towers fully staffed and guarded by a small army of digimon. Fortunately, as they neared, they recognized many of the digimon. They weren't the typical viral types that stood watch at Myotismon's bases, and they didn't seem hostile either. Once they were close enough, they spotted one small digimon at the gates that was quite familiar from their last visit to the human world – Pumpkinmon.

"You're late."

Taichi chuckled as he hopped off Kabuterimon's back. Approaching the open gates with Agumon at his side as Koushiro followed up behind him.

"I hope you saved a few for us."

"Yup. Got a whole bunch waiting in the rift chamber. It's at the center of the fortress. We locked them in there, so we're safe, but they're waiting for us, too. Going in after them won't be easy."

Taichi he followed the little Jack-o-lantern through the gates and into the main hall, glancing about as he did. The architecture was clearly of the kind that Myotismon would choose... black stone, large chambers, massive pillars. All that over inflated, grandiose crap that one might expect from a psychotic goth with an ego the size of Asia.

As he walked, Taichi pondered the matter of the rift... they'd have to go in hard and fast, and they'd have to be efficient enough to make sure they didn't wear themselves out here. They needed to keep up their energy as high as possible so they could keep up the fight in the human world.

"How strong are the doors holding them in?"

"Pretty strong. You'd need a battering ram to break them down. They're not getting out of there."

"Wasn't worried that they would..."

Taichi muttered and Pumpkinmon gave him a curious look, but said nothing. Well, whatever. The Digidestined were their own WMD as far as he was concerned. Whatever they had planned, he'd go along with it since they had the best track record of killing things they didn't like. He was sure they'd succeed one way or another. His only concern was making sure he and the other rebels didn't accidentally become collateral along the way.

"Where are we going?"

Koushiro asked, noticing the side path that they were taking, not a path toward the center of the fortress.

"Top floor. Throne room. Etemon wanted to meet you guys when you got here. We were expecting more of you, though."

Taichi glanced back to Koushiro questioningly. Should they explain where the others were? It wasn't like saying nothing would make them less suspicious... might as well satisfy their curiosity so that Etemon and Datamon didn't anticipate the ambush that was coming.

"We managed to get a gate back to our world. They went ahead of us, and we stayed behind to finish clearing the castle."

"Eh. Maybe it's for the best. If you were _all_ here, you might level the whole castle..."

The children and their partners exchanged questioning glances. That was... odd. They didn't think they had that kind of reputation. Not to say Pumpkinmon was wrong... they tended to ignore collateral damage when they were focused on a mission, so it was somewhat of a survival hazard to be around them in the heat of battle. However, they had never gotten that kind of reaction from anyone in the human world, nor the allies who'd joined their fight in the digital world. Then again, all of those were trained soldiers and fighters, not civilians. They understood the nature of war, even if they didn't always appreciate it.

Taichi idly wondered if that's the way his parents saw them... if the the destructive power of the children's digimon scared them. Taichi had spent so long around this sort of thing that he thought nothing of it anymore, but thinking about it more in depth... their partners, only three perfects at the time, had managed to devastate most of a sector in Odaiba, demolish countless buildings in less than an hour... maybe they were a lot more terrifying than they ever realized.

The trip to the top floor wasn't very long, though had they been a few years less experienced in battle it likely would have exhausted them due to the number of stairs. When they arrived, Pumpkinmon threw open the double doors to reveal what had once been Myotismon's throne room, and was... now...

_What... the... hell...?_

To say it was bizarre was an understatement. The gothic architecture was identical to the rest of the castle, but inside it was filled with... _stuff_. In one corner near the door, a quarter of the room had been filled with various kinds of computer gear that looked to be wired directly into the stone walls in a way that would be completely unnatural and impossible in the human world. The rest of the room was... _festive_.

Etemon, being far more gaudy in his tastes than Myotismon, had torn down the enormous black stone throne that formerly sat on the far end of the room and replaced it with a huge mound of pillows and rugs. All around him hung and lights and flags of all colors, and all of the walls were dominated by countless gold-colored banners that made even Myotismon's choice of construction look celebratory. It was like walking into a freakish hybrid of Dracula's castle, a sultan's palace, and a _carnival_.

"Yeah, I know. Whatever you're thinking, I promise somebody's said it already."

Pumpkinmon muttered back, careful not to speak loudly enough that Etemon might overhear from the far end of the room. Well, at least the utter absurdity of it wasn't lost on the rebels... having been so caught up in the fighting against Myotismon and remembering only the trauma of war, the children had actually forgotten just how obnoxiously over the top Etemon was. Now, with this to jog their memory, these two children could remember every detail...

"Well now, if this ain't joggin' the noggin'... been a long time since we had a run-in, ain't it?"

Taichi was caught between fury and disbelief. If anything, Etemon had become even more eccentric since their last meeting. It didn't erase memories of the war or his hatred for the creature in the damned monkey-suit, but it made it marginally easier to hide his disgust long enough to work together.

Stepping forward, Taichi looked up and all around the room, taking in the full sight of this place, a fact that Etemon seemed to greatly enjoy.

"Like what I've done with the place?"

Taichi pondered a moment. He was tempted to toss out a few insults, but he didn't have time to argue. They needed to finish their work as quickly as possible so they could get back to the human world.

"Not really my style, but I like it better than Myotismon's."

Etemon let out a loud laugh as he jumped up from where he had been lounging on his makeshift pillow-throne and strolled over to where the kids stood.

"You and the whole digi-world. So, ready to go crack some heads?"

"I distinctly recall there being more of you."

Taichi and Koushiro both glanced back to the corner where they now spotted Datamon, plugged into a half-dozen different computers at once and undoubtedly operating at least as many programs.

"We managed to get a gate working. The rest of us are back in the human world, getting our counter-attack ready. We stayed to take the rift so Myotismon couldn't run away, then we're going to go join them."

"Well then, let's certainly not waste any time. The sooner this is done, the sooner that leech can be crushed... shall we discuss the plan for capturing the rift?"

"Actually, I was thinking we'd just have MegaKabuterimon ram through the doors, then charge in with all the strongest digimon we have and kill everything in sight."

Taichi's blunt attitude and absolute recklessness in planning sent Etemon into a laughing fit again. He was never one to over-plan things. He preferred picking a target and just beating on it until it didn't get up anymore. Apparently he and Taichi would get along rather well during this brief alliance.

"But we should still get a tactical map of what we're up against so we can prioritize the most dangerous targets and limit our casualties."

Koushiro quickly interjected. This may have been one of the times when they could survive being brash and charge in, but that didn't mean he wasn't still going to be as smart about it as possible to save time and energy. Besides, he _had_ to act smart to stay 'in character' so to speak. If he didn't, Datamon might suspect something was amiss with the children.

The suggestion put an abrupt end to Etemon's laughter, but he didn't argue. It was Datamon's tactical brilliance that allowed him to get as far as he had, even seizing Myotismon's castle, so he had learned to respect the power of knowledge. And unlike Datamon, who could spend days or weeks analyzing the intel he received, Koushiro and the other children tended to form and implement plans much quicker, so he knew he wouldn't have to wait as long as normal.

A quick analysis of the data was enough to give Koushiro everything he needed. The enemies weren't actually that strong, relatively speaking. Most of them were adults or lower strength perfects. The only one that posed any major threat to them was a cybernetic monstrosity that appeared to be an artificially evolved Devidramon. Any readings Datamon had tried to get on it became corrupted, leading him to speculate that the creature was either an unstable experiment of Myotismon's, or that it had some special ability to reject most data scans.

Either way, it didn't matter. The creature was connected to the dark network, and apparently served as both Myotismon's primary network controller and the guardian of the castle. If Datamon's theories were correct, that thing was the one responsible for waking up all the gargoyles and other defenses in the castle and was the head of the surviving defenders, so its death was top priority.

Agumon and Etemon volunteered to go in first and tag-team it to draw its attention away from everyone else. Datamon would follow behind them, releasing swarms of specialized nano spores designed specifically to infect the Devidramon and Dokugumon, which posed the biggest threat aside from the leader. Then the rest of the rebels would follow up and eradicate the remaining defenders. If all went well, the operation would be quick and clean... and then the Digidestined could promptly turn their attention to Etemon and Datamon.

They wasted no time prepping and gathering everyone outside the rift chamber. Once they were ready, Agumon and Tentomon evolved and MegaKabuterimon promptly rammed his horn through the gates, knocking them down and crushing a few of the enemy defenders in the process. Etemon rushed in ahead of MetalGreymon, throwing a dark energy sphere at the enemy leader to attract his attention before jumping clear to dodge his counter-attack. Being smaller and faster than MetalGreymon, he was must better at dodging eye-beams and whatnot. For a moment it almost felt like having WereGarurumon at their side... if he was a adrenaline-high, laughing monkey instead of a werewolf.

MetalGreymon went in next, ramming his claw at the monster's face and twisting to pin the creature's neck to the floor as Datamon entered and released his nano-swarms. Half the remaining guards were thrown into disarray, and those that weren't were soon overwhelmed by the dozens of rebels that charged in after him.

Quick and clean... everything seemed to be going according to plan. Now for phase two.

Koushiro and Taichi remained back and away from the battle for their own safety, or so was their claim. Yet as soon as Datamon went in they turned and rushed back outside, the former hopping on the back of a bird-like adult rebel to take him up to the top floor while the latter called Pumpkinmon to relay orders to the rebels.

Full retreat. Get all the rebels out of the fortress. Once the enemies were down, they were going to kill Etemon and Datamon, and they had no idea what kind of defenses Datamon had set up in the castle since taking over, so it was best if everyone got as far away as possible beforehand.

Taichi almost expected them to respond negatively to the idea of backstabbing Etemon, but to his surprise he got exactly the opposite response.

"Glad _somebody_ has sense around here... don't worry, I'll get everyone out. You just take care of those two nutjobs."

Meanwhile, Koushiro quickly found his way to Datamon's system and plugged in. The first order of business was releasing his virus – a program he affectionately referred to as the data-burst virus, based on a certain weapon designed by the Hunters. It wrote random bits into all of Datamon's programs, corrupting their processes enough to neutralize whatever security he had set up. As soon as it was working, Koushiro hacked the system and started studying the system, trying to figure out what the little scrap heap had planned for them.

To his utter amazement, he found little to nothing of what he expected. Datamon was indeed trying to set up automated security, but the mutated Devidramon had apparently kept him out. How was that even _possible_? Datamon was one of the best hackers in the digital world. The only way somebody could lock him out of a system was if it was-

Oh crap.

A digimon. Digimon were the only things with coding complex and robust enough to resist direct takeover by a hacker. The difference between a sentient program and an automated one was like night and day. Datamon couldn't hack into the castle's program because the castle had the code of a digimon. Did that mean the entire castle was _alive_? Were they walking around inside a sentient-

No... the enemy leader was connected to the castle's defenses. It couldn't be alive, yet its code seemed to indicate it was. How could that be-

Oh... _SHIT!_

"TAICHI!"

Koushiro was on his digivice as soon as he realized what was happening, hoping to whatever gods ruled the digital world that he was fast enough.

"Get to the rift room! Don't let them destroy the enemy leader!"

Koushiro quickly grabbed his laptop and ran to the exit, calling the digimon that had brought him there to take him back down as quickly as possible.

"What the heck is going on?"

Taichi was fast to react, but not fast enough. Even from down the hall he could see that the battle was about to end. He wouldn't be able to get there in time...

"It's Myotismon's security! The leader isn't just wired into the entire castle – he's _part_ of it! If he dies, the-"

Too late. The final blow was struck by Etemon and immediately the castle rocked beneath them. Taichi didn't need to hear the rest of Koushiro's explanation to know what he was about to say. The whole castle was about to come down around their heads...

Now they understood why Myotismon left his fortress so undefended. It _couldn't_ be captured by invaders. If they succeeded in killing all the defenders, the entire fortress would collapse and they'd be crushed to death inside.

Fortunately, Koushiro's ride was brave enough not to run. On the contrary, he went so far as to rush into the main hall even as the fortress began to crumble around them. Along the way he picked up Pumpkinmon, who hopped on his back as they flew. Spotting Taichi along the way, he slowed long enough to pick up a third passenger before rushing straight to the rift room.

"What in blazes-!"

"The fortress is collapsing! Myotismon linked everything to the lead dragon you just killed, so now that it's dead, the castle's falling with it!"

To say Etemon was pissed didn't even begin to do it justice. Rotten son of a... just when he thought he finally got the upper hand on that bloodsucker.

"All rebels, get into the rift! It's the only way out of here now!"

Though he realized he was ordering the rebels to flee to the human world, Taichi didn't care. Even if it meant they'd be stuck there, he'd find a way to keep them safe from the Hunters. He wasn't about to let these digimon all die just because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Of course, the moment Etemon and Datamon turned to the rift, they were met by the children's partners.

"Not _you_."

"You did enough damage last time. You don't get a second chance."

Usually it was the children that did the talking, but in this case their partners shared their grudge against these enemies, and were as adamant about seeing them dead as the children would ever be. For the whole team it was a sore spot in their memory, to know they had failed to finish these two off after they had killed so many in the invasion... but for the digimon it was that much worse because they were digimon as well, and they felt in some way responsible for this war, knowing how many humans were suffering and dying at the hands of a few powerful psychos from the digital world.

Well, not anymore.

Both partners unleashed their attacks at once as the rebels fled into the rift behind them. Etemon barely escaped, though he was caught in the edge of the blast, knocking him back to the wall. Datamon, on the other hand, was apparently ready for them, and was moving clear of MegaKabuterimon's attack well before it could ever hit him. He then released a wave of nano spores which exploded on impact with the beetle's shell, knocking him almost back through the rift.

"Fools. I anticipated this sort of betrayal. You are not nearly smart enough to catch _me_ off guAGH!"

What Datamon apparently failed to anticipate was Etemon at his back, lobbing dark spheres at him like a baseball pitcher.

"Worthless bag a' scrap! You think I'm dumb enough to believe you didn't see this comin'? You set us all up to die here!"

Even with their history, the Digidestined and their partners were all rather shocked to see how quickly and how viciously Etemon turned on Datamon. Apparently his hate was as strong as ever, if not stronger...

"Fool!"

Datamon shouted as he finally managed to dodge Etemon's fifth attack... or maybe sixth. It was hard to keep track with how quickly Etemon was lobbing everything he had at him.

"If we fight here, we're _both_ dead! You can't defeat both of the children by yourself!"

For once, Etemon didn't say a word. Instead he charged up a black sphere in each hand and lobbed them at Datamon, one after the other. The machine managed to jump clear of the first, but he was unable to alter his momentum in the air, thus making him an easy target for the second. As soon as his body hit the ground it was seized in one of Etemon's hands, who proceeded to start smashing his head repeatedly against the wall.

There was no strategy or plan involved with Etemon's actions. It was simply sheer brutality. Pieces of Datamon's frame began fracturing and breaking off with each hit, stunning him enough that he could barely even try to fight back. When he did momentarily muster enough energy to try to grab Etemon, his arm was promptly snatched up in Etemon's free hand torn right off his body.

"I don't care if I die! I've had enough of your bullshit! Just! Fuckin'! _DIE!_"

Datamon tried to scream out some sort of plea for his life, some final attempt to persuade Etemon to spare him for mutual gain, but his words fell on deaf ears. With one final impact, Datamon's body shattered on the wall, crumbling to pieces in Etemon's hand. The final scraps sparked and smoldered on the ground, yet didn't disappear completely as most dead digimon did, indicating that perhaps some hint of life still remained in them. However, that clearly wouldn't remain long as the main hall finished collapsing, leaving the two children and their digimon trapped alone in the rift chamber with Etemon, the rest of the rebels having already all fled.

"Guess it's just us now..."

Etemon stared across at the children, wondering if they would keep standing or run into the rift, knowing that what was left of the castle wouldn't survive much longer...

"You're not leaving here, Etemon."

He paused a moment at Taichi's words, then suddenly burst into laughter again. This reaction was anything but what the children had expected, and they remained at the ready, anticipating a trick at any moment. Maybe Etemon was trying to lull them into a false sense of security... if he was smart enough for that.

"Yeah, I know... heck, even if I got through that rift I wouldn't last long. Two of you, and four more waiting in the wings... I've seen what you can do. I know when I'm beat."

That was... even less expected. Etemon, known for his ego and his absolute conviction that he was the strongest digimon ever, admitting that he couldn't win? This was completely out of character for him, yet none of those present could detect any dishonesty in his voice.

"Just do me a favor, kiddos... I don't like losing to second best, so when you find Myotismon, make sure ya kill him. Make sure ya kill _everyone_ that gets in your way! Ya beat the best, so ya better make sure you don't lose from here on!"

For a moment, Taichi didn't know what to say, but the rumbling that came from around them as the rift chamber began quickly closing in around them was enough to get his brain working.

"Don't worry, by the end of the day we'll be the only ones left standing."

And that was all he had time for. Whistling loudly to the digimon, Taichi turned and ran toward the rift with Koushiro, jumping in just ahead of their partners. Etemon probably had enough time to rush in after them, but he didn't... better this way, he figured. He could either go out beaten down by the children, or like this... in a blaze of glory. And what better way for a true fighter to go? This way, nobody could say they killed him. It took the collapse of a pocket dimension to finally finish him off, something even Myotismon wouldn't be able to claim.

And so, as the castle finished imploding into the increasingly unstable rift, Etemon would go out laughing. Datamon was dead at his feet, Myotismon's castle was gone, and the big leech himself was gonna get beaten down by the children by the end of the day...

Life was good.

* * *

The children and the rebels moved clear of the rift to make sure they weren't caught in any blast as it imploded, but fortunately it seemed to go quite... peacefully. Once the actual collapse began, the rift just slowly grew smaller and smaller until it finally faded completely, its final moments punctuated by an audible 'pop' sound but nothing more. Far less dramatic than the first rift that the children had sealed on File Island, that was for sure...

Taking a moment to check around what was apparently Myotismon's stronghold in the human world, they found it was mostly deserted. If he'd been waiting for them there at one point, he certainly wasn't now. Only a few weak guards remained, and most of them had fallen to the rebels before the children even emerged from the rift.

"Darn it... I wasn't able to access the dark network."

Taichi froze and glanced Koushiro's way as he heard his words, then let out a laugh of his own. Etemon and Datamon were gone, the castle had collapsed, they made it out with few to no casualties, and he was upset about not being able to hack the enemy's network? Well... that was Koushiro for you.

"Don't worry about it, we'll make do. Right now we've got bigger fish to fry."

Koushiro nodded slightly at Taichi's words and hopped on his partner's back to go check around the building with the rebels, knowing that Taichi himself would contact his sister and the others for an update on the state of the city. Undoubtedly, the fighting had already started, so they'd have to get moving soon to join the fray.

One battle was over... and this duo, at least, had done their job almost perfectly. Now they could only hope that the rest of the team managed as well...


	17. Revolution

A/N: I'm not sure of what everyone thought of the last chapter... the lack of reviews hints that people might have been a bit underwhelmed by it, but that's fine, so was I. I originally had planned an epic battle between MetalGreymon and Etemon, as well as a hacking duel between Koushiro and Datamon, but as I got into the chapter I realized that neither of those made much sense. As mentioned by a reviewer, Etemon wasn't strong enough to match the children's digimon, and as for the hacking duel, Koushiro may be good, but Datamon is a sentient computer who can hack things by plugging in and _thinking_ at them. The kid wouldn't have stood a chance.

Still, the chapter dealt with certain plot points that were necessary in the big scheme of things, as will become clear later on. It also gave me a bit of an opportunity to explore Etemon's personality, as he had never directly appeared in the story before that. So I'm glad I wrote it, even if it wasn't the most engaging chapter. And if you _were_ disappointed by that chapter, don't worry... I'll be making up for it from here on.

Chapter 17: Revolution

**If children have the ability to ignore all odds and percentages, then maybe we can all learn from them. When you think about it, what other choice is there but to hope? We have two options, medically and emotionally: give up, or Fight Like Hell.**

"Yamato, Mimi, where are you?"

Yamato's eyes remained forward on the roads, directing Garurumon on what path to follow, trying to avoid any of the main roads until they got close enough to their destination. Behind him, Mimi grabbed her digivice to respond to Sora, glancing to a street sign as they passed.

"Getting close to the headquarters. About a minute before we get to the main road."

"How's it look?"

"We've seen a few scouts, but nothing's attacked us yet. They're probably trying to figure out what we're doing."

"Or calling for reinforcements. All the scouts _we've_ seen have been adults or weaker."

"Are you at the prison?"

"Almost. It just came into view. We'll be down in- WHOA!"

Yamato turned his head back suddenly at the sound of Sora shouting through the digivice, but Mimi promptly slapped his arm to get him focused on the road again.

"Eyes on the road! Sora, what happened?"

"We just found the reinforcements! Give us a minute, I'll call you again after we clean up this mess..."

"Don't. We're about to get busy. Take care of the prison first, then let me know when you're done."

"Got it!"

Sora cut the call just in time for Mimi to spot the enemies down the street as Garurumon arrived at the main road. No chance of surprise here, they clearly knew that the children were coming. Well, no loss. Yamato was looking for a fight, and just because they were expecting the children didn't mean they were _ready_ for them...

Palmon jumped off of Garurumon's back and evolved straight to her perfect state in mid-air, sweeping back around to grab Mimi and pull her away so that Garurumon could evolve as well. Diving into the air, Garurumon evolved mid-jump and Yamato shifted his grip from the back of the dog's head to his shoulders, managing to stay on his partner's back even through the evolutionary shift. It was a difficult maneuver, and one that only he could pull off due to months of practice. He eventually let go and dropped to the street when they reached the first enemy, as WereGarurumon started promptly pummeling the beasts' face.

As for Mimi and Lillymon, they flew right past most of the enemies, the former being dropped off at the main gate of the base before her digimon swung back and seized the neck of the largest digimon she could find with her flower wreath. The second largest was promptly dropped by a combination of her flower cannon and an attack by the dragon she just took control of. Between WereGarurumon going rabid on everything in sight at the dragon turning on his allies, the ensuing chaos was enough to throw a large number of the enemies into a panic.

Lillymon returned to Mimi's side just as she spotted several of the enemy digimon apparently turning on the others. Odd... were there more rebels in Myotismon's army? Or was it simply that the children had done so much damage that some of the enemies had started weighing their options and found it was safer to go turncoat than to fight the Digidestined?

Well, that was for Yamato and Jou to figure out. Mimi had a very different mission to take care of. Grabbing the access card Ryo had given her, she swiped it across the security panel and quickly entered the emergency code she had memorized before setting off from Myotismon's territory.

How members of SDZ managed to obtain a Hunter officer access card and password she didn't know, and she certainly wasn't going to ask. Given that all of their own cards and codes would have been deactivated, it almost inevitably meant that it had to have been taken from one of the standard army officers, possibly by force... and right now was a bad time to ponder the implications of that.

Fortunately, their luck held, as did the password. The gate opened and the pair ran in, ignoring the open door behind them. Myotismon didn't want the Hunter HQ... if he did, the barrier would have been knocked down a while ago. Since there was no risk of being followed, better to leave the gate open so that other friends who needed to get in to the HQ later would have access.

It was a surreal feeling to be charging into the Hunter headquarters. This place had changed its role in the children's minds multiple times... during Etemon's invasion, it was the heart of the human resistance, and a bastion of hope. In time it changed, as general fear and paranoia drove a wedge between the children and most of humanity, to say nothing of the treaty that made the Hunters the children's outright enemies. Then Katsu and Masaharu brought them together again only to be betrayed by their own leaders, and now this place was more hostile than ever.

With such a history, Mimi almost expected more fanfare as she and her partner rushed through the main doors. Maybe a small platoon trying to keep them out. Instead they were faced by shock and fear. Even the guards retreated from the room as soon as they spotted Lillymon. No doubt they knew how powerful she was... even if they hadn't gotten visual footage of her fighting Myotismon's high-level forces, they _had_ to know about her child and adult levels by now, and since she was in neither of those forms it was fairly obvious that she was even further evolved.

Lillymon readied her cannon but didn't target anything. She didn't expect anyone would try to attack her directly – individual Hunters didn't stand a chance against a digimon at her level – but it didn't hurt to be cautious... and besides, she may have to knock down the few doors along the way to their destination.

With her armed partner at her side, Mimi ran to the front desk, causing the receptionist to flee screaming into the corner while Mimi sat herself down at the computer. The set up was straightforward enough... she may not have been an expert like Koushiro, but she _was_ a thirteen year old girl who'd lived in the digital world for three years. A certain level of computer savvy was normal, and that was enough to find a map of the facility. Some sections were blacked out, but those were only the secret stuff – research and the like. She didn't care about any of that...

"Third floor... end of the hall from the stairs. Let's go."

Mimi pointed in the right direction and Lillymon led the way, escorting her past any potential danger, just in case some guards arrived and tried to take one or both of them down. Fortunately, no one seemed to have that intention... in fact, the further in they went, the more deserted the building seemed. No guards, no resistance... everyone ran away, leaving them with a clear path to their destination. Even the doors to the stairwell were unlocked, even though they had clearly visible automated locks to seal off the floors from each other in case of emergency.

Why...? Why wasn't anybody even _trying_ to stop them?

Third floor, still deserted. It wasn't until they reached the desk outside the command room that they finally saw someone who hadn't fled or hidden. The receptionist froze when she noticed the duo approaching, obviously afraid, but that was still far better than the lady on the first floor. Stepping up to the desk, Mimi grabbed a flash drive in her pocket as Lillymon checked the doors ahead of them. Locked. Figures. Well, they have a solution for that, but first...

"Can you broadcast from here?"

The woman blinked, apparently confused by the question.

"Broadcast...? What do you-"

"The PA – or whatever you call it – where do you broadcast from?"

Whatever the woman had expected Mimi to do or say, that clearly wasn't it. The question was followed by several seconds of silence before it apparently clicked in her head what was being said.

"Yes, I can- um... the main system for that is in the command room, but I can still... _technically_... broadcast it from here if the message is prerecorded."

Mimi quickly slapped the flash drive down onto the desk directly in front of the woman, glancing up to her face before- wait... was she...? She looked oddly familiar for some reason... however, Mimi quickly dismissed that thought before motioning back to Lillymon to move away from the doors. She could figure that out later. She needed to take care of business first.

"That has a set of files on it. Play them all on the PA system, in order... oh yeah, and you should probably duck."

Mimi rushed behind her partner for cover as she charged up and fired her cannon, though not nearly at full power. She merely wanted to knock the doors down, not blast a hole through the next three rooms... it was still a tad much, as she ended up blowing both doors clean off their hinges. Fortunately, though, it didn't create nearly as much debris as Mimi had expected, and most that it did create was blown back down the hall that led to the command room, along with the doors themselves. Ultimately they were stopped by a solid metal gate that was reminiscent of the doors they used to seal the tunnels between sectors. Looks like they finally found that security they were expecting...

Upping the power of her cannon slightly, Lillymon proceeded through the hall, blowing through one defense gate after another – four in total – before they finally emerged at the far end, to be met by a final, flimsy pair of locked double doors. Rather than use her cannon, this time Lillymon simply rammed the doors and knocked them open. No reason to waste any more power on these defenses than she already had...

Even so, she had her cannon prepared again for what inevitably awaited them once they entered the command room. Though the defenses weren't nearly enough to stand up to a perfect-level digimon, that room was still the most secure in the entire building. All of Hunter Command had holed themselves up in there, along with a few dozen of the best Hunter guards in the base, each armed and waiting for Lillymon to step into the room.

So, when those doors were thrown open and she did so, she would be greeted by the barrel of a gun aimed directly at her face from barely a foot away.

"Don't take another step, girl."

The guard put on a good show of confidence, though his weapon was worthless against a digimon of her level, and he likely knew it. Still, if confidence was all he had, he might as well use it. As for Lillymon, however, she was far from intimidated. The Hunters struggled against digimon that she and the other partners of the destined children had been running over with little trouble. A single gun wasn't a threat, even at that close range.

"Mine's bigger."

The digimon grinned and answered the threat with her own, aiming her cannon square at the guard's chest. To his credit he didn't waver, though it was clear by his expression that he knew he had no hope of winning if this turned into a firefight.

"What are you _doing_ here?"

Standing behind her partner, Mimi caught just a glimpse of the man asking the question, standing behind the rest of the armed guards that surrounded the entrance, guns trained on Mimi's partner. He wasn't dressed quite like one of the other commanders she could catch sight of around the room. If she had to guess... he was likely the head of base security. Maybe a lower ranked officer, like a field commander of some sort.

Mimi was sorely tempted to say any one of the countless responses that some of her comrades might say... there were so many sarcastic quips to be made, and no other digidestined around to see her act a bit sassy... but she refrained. On any other day she might do that, but not today. They had to keep this whole operation as quick and efficient as possible. Yamato and Ryo were both quite clear on that...

"I've come to relieve everyone here of their command."

A few of the guards might have laughed were they not facing down a fairy-girl digimon who could probably kill them all in about ten seconds. Still, the skepticism was clear on many of their faces, both the guards and the officers alike.

"_Relieve_ them of command? On what authority?"

"By _authority_ of the commander of Special Division Zero."

Mimi grinned, both from the reaction she knew she would get and from the knowledge of who she was talking about. It gave her great pleasure to refer to Hikari as the leader of SDZ... all these high and mighty, self-righteous commanders, many of which were traitors who made a deal with Myotismon, and they were being removed from command by an eleven year old girl with a cat for a partner... it felt good to put people in their place sometimes.

Of course, none of _them_ knew what she meant. The words of one of the commanders made that quite clear.

"Spe- Katsu Fang is a traitor to humanity! He-"

"_He's_ not the commander of SDZ. I'm talking about Hikari."

A pause. Stunned silence filled the room, and in those moments Mimi had a chance to wonder why that receptionist woman was taking so long to get those files on the PA...

"Hikari Yagami? Rogue seven? _She's_ in command of SDZ?"

It was the head guard speaking again, now apparently more curious than hostile.

"She took over right after we found out about Katsu. And she-"

"_Hello at last, Mister Big Shot..."_

Mimi stopped as she heard the recording finally start playing back on the PA. And there it was... the truth, laid out for the entire base to hear, and no way to stop it without getting past Mimi and her partner to get to the receptionist outside.

"What the hell...?!"

"How is that going out? That computer was supposed to be locked down!"

Wait... locked down? Then why was the receptionist...

"Guards! About face!"

And just like that, everything that seemed to make sense a few seconds ago... didn't. The head guard grabbed and detained the commander who was directly beside him, putting a gun to the back of his head to hold him up. At the same time, the guards all simultaneously dropped their weapons and turned about, drawing their standard firearms and squaring their sights on all of the commanders. There was shouting and borderline chaos for a few moments, but it quickly settled as the commanders realized they had no way to fight back and that nobody was listening to a word they were saying anyway. The silence that followed gave Mimi and her partner a chance to cut in with their own commentary.

"...what the hell just _happened_?"

Lillymon wasn't usually one for major outbursts in _any_ of her forms, but this was a special occasion. Seriously, all the guards just turned on the Hunter commanders in unison, like they were _expecting_ this, and... and... WHAT?!

"Captain, what the _hell_ are you doing?"

The man with the gun to the back of his head spoke, surprisingly calm despite his position. He was more shocked than anything... not really afraid of dying here. He figured if there was any plan to kill him, he'd likely be dead already.

"Relieving you of command, Mr. Director. You, and all of Hunter Command, are hereby under arrest for conspiracy and treason against the Digimon Hunters and against all of humanity. A full investigation of your alliance with Myotismon will follow, to determine the identities of all your co-conspirators, after which you will be put on trial for war crimes."

Okay, so this was... good. Right? This was what Mimi and the others had all hoped for, even better than what they actually expected. Reveal the truth, have the commanders arrested... the only problem was, they _hadn't_ revealed the truth yet. The files had _just_ started playing, yet the guards were acting like they already knew everything that was in them.

The Director tried to protest, but he was quickly grabbed and hauled away by one of the other guards, along with each of the other commanders. Some resisted, some didn't... the look of shock on a few of the faces proved that at least _some_ of the commanders were innocent and knew nothing of the treaty. Mimi felt a bit sorry for those guys... first one of the rogues invades their HQ, then they learn about the treaty right as they're arrested to be held for treason. Of course, they'd be released later if they were innocent, so the long-term problems were minimal. Objectively speaking, anyway. What emotional trauma this could cause was hard to say...

As the commanders were hauled off down the hall and out of the room, the playback of the files suddenly stopped. Okay then... well, at the very least, Mimi could hope the captain staying in the room meant that she'd be getting an explanation as to what the heck just happened.

"You look surprised."

Mimi paused. Surprised? You better believe I'm surprised! You just- no, no... focus, Mimi. _Focus_.

"You knew what was on that recording was as soon as it started. How?"

Mimi would get an answer far different than she might have expected. The captain reached into his pocket and pulled out a... flash drive. _What_? He had a copy of the files? How did... what? What were the odds of _that_? That he'd be one of the few people who'd have access to- wait, no... that was impossible. All the guards obeyed without question, so _they_ had to know too.

"When SDZ was dismantled, I was sent with a couple other guards to arrest Katsu Fang and Masaharu Ishida. Katsu fled well before I could get to him, but Masaharu didn't. When we stormed into his office, he played back those files for us, then gave us special orders on how to proceed."

Masaharu... _he_ set this up? But he was in prison...

"He gave us each copies of the files and told us to arrest him anyway. After he was put in prison, we were to go to everyone we trusted, one-on-one and where nobody could overhear us, and show them the files. Then we were to give them a copy and give them the same orders as us."

Suddenly it clicked in Mimi's mind. That was weeks ago... it wouldn't take long for a process like that to spread the word to nearly everyone in the Hunters. And that was when the city was still under Hunter control, so it wouldn't just be in the HQ... every major Hunter facility in the city would be informed by now. _Everyone_ would know about what the Director and his cohorts had done.

"We were also ordered to hold our cover. The treaty was a betrayal, but it was also keeping us alive. We were instructed to continue doing our duties as normal until the rogues needed the Hunters to back them up."

"So when that file started playing..."

"The entire base was cued in on what was happening, and it was time to act."

That made sense... and it also explained why it was so easy to get in. The guards were all on her side, so they made a show of running away while leaving the path to the command room open. They still had to seal the gates in the hall, though. The commanders would definitely have noticed if something was wrong with _that_.

This situation was also extremely beneficial. If the Hunters were prepared to help the children then it would be much quicker to organize a counterstrike, provided they could get everyone they needed into position.

"But I don't understand something. That computer outside-"

"You can thank me for that."

Mimi turned around to see the face of an unfamiliar man stepping into the room through the rubble of the broken doors and gates, followed immediately by the 'receptionist.'

"I helped bypass the system security as soon as the area was cleared of personnel so that Mrs. Ishida could get in. I _had_ intended to have her send a message to every computer terminal in the building... but I think the girl's PA idea worked far better."

Mimi blinked, glancing to the woman again. Suddenly the familiarity of her face was much clearer. She'd never met Yamato's mother before, but the similarity in their features was rather obvious now... had she not been rushed, the girl probably would have realized it on her own eventually. A brief smile and nod from the woman was all the acknowledgment she needed to be sure it was her...

So, once again their families enter the fray to help save them. Yamato's parents especially had helped the children a number of times already. Clearly, the Digidestined weren't as alone as they once imagined themselves to be.

"So... who are you?"

The man, unlike Natsuko, was completely unfamiliar. He had no special attire to indicate his role or rank in the base. He was just a man... a man good at breaking system security, apparently.

"Head of R&D here... Hikari may have mentioned me once, though if she didn't I wouldn't be surprised. She and Masaharu confronted me... then spared me. I thought I should return the favor."

Mimi nodded. Head of R&D... Hikari did mention him, though that was almost definitely before the confrontation he mentioned. He was one of the voices in the recordings, but apparently he wasn't quite the traitor that the rest of Command was. That made it somewhat surprising when the captain signaled one of the guards to step forward.

"Sir, I'm sure you understand, as one who was recorded as speaking to one of Myotismon's followers I have to arrest you as well."

Mimi was about to protest, though the man's solemn nod silenced her. He knew exactly what he was doing when he did this... he had previously expected to end up dead when he looked down the barrel of Masaharu's gun, and hadn't even put up a fight then. Even if he ended up being put away in prison for life, it's no worse than he deserved. At least this way he was able to help, if only this once...

"I know... don't worry about me, I won't fight. Just take care of your own business. You have bigger worries than _me_ now."

As the man was led away, Mimi turned back to the captain, who called another guard to escort Natsuko away to somewhere safe inside the base, away from danger. As a relative of one of the rogues, her safety was now a high priority for the Hunters.

"He's right that we have bigger worries. Right now we have no one in command. We can follow the orders of Hikari and SDZ, but we need a new Director, if only temporarily..."

"What do you mean, _temporarily_?"

"Our officers in the field can handle their own orders just fine. We don't need a full command branch over us to keep us moving. As long as their orders are clear our teams can operate independently to achieve them, but we still need someone over us for the sake of appearance, if nothing else. Having no real leader would hurt morale, and that's already low enough as it is with the state of the city... the men need to feel that there's some force or person unifying the Hunters. It can't be Hikari, either. She's a child, and worse, she's a rogue. She'll be involved in the fighting. We need someone _here_, at HQ, to head us up."

Mimi paused, nodding slowly to each of the man's words. It made sense... apparently the children had a few misconceptions about the Hunters. They thought it would be necessary to have people in the command branch in order to make their operation go smoothly, but apparently the field commanders could handle just fine without them. Still, necessary or not they were better off with someone in that position... fortunately, their misconceptions inadvertently solved that problem for them.

"Don't worry. We already have a plan for that. Sora's taking care of it right now."

The man raised an eyebrow. Already have a plan, eh?

"And where is Sora now?"

At that question, Mimi simply grinned, and Lillymon with her.

"The Hunter military prison."

* * *

The reinforcements weren't a particular problem for Garudamon. Most of them were weak... most likely all of the strongest forces were waiting on this side of the rift, hoping to ambush the children when they came through. Why these enemies were stupid enough to challenge her directly she didn't know... maybe they thought she'd be an easy target because she was alone... big mistake.

Sora was second only to Taichi when it came to her boldness and fearlessness in battle. Even Yamato was more cautious than her, at least when it came to protecting his own life. Sora was protective of her friends, and preferred to avoid reckless plans because it put them in danger. However, there was a big difference between watching others go into battle or going in herself.

This dichotomy in her personality is one of the things that made her feelings for both boys so confusing and difficult to deal with. It would be so easy if were always either reckless or cautious, but she was both. She acted as a balance between the two leaders, but that also kept her stuck between them...

Personal feelings aside, she had a mission to take care of... rescue and retrieval. Time to get Masaharu out of here.

The prison was divided into two main buildings for housing the prisoners: A smaller processing facility for prisoners that were coming in, and a larger main building for permanent holding. Masaharu's cell was thankfully on the outside of the structure, on one of the top floors with a small window looking out to the main yard. A barred and reinforced window made of bullet-proof glass, of course, so there was no breaking out through there. Not that Masaharu would have anywhere to go. Even if he managed to climb down to the ground level, it would only leave him in a fenced-in yard. No way out of there unless he could fly... and that's why Sora was here.

The guards all fled as Sora's partner came down in the yard. Alarms sounded, but the duo ignored them. Nothing to worry about from the Hunters, and they weren't staying long anyway. Moving to the outside of the main building, they searched across several windows, looking in to find which one was... ah-ha! _There_ he is.

Reaching into her pocket, Sora unfolded a piece of paper she had written up before leaving Myotismon's territory and pressed it up against the window for Masaharu to see, holding it there a few seconds for him to read the message on it.

_Get away from the window._

He'd find out why soon enough. Garudamon pounded the wall once with her fist, holding back slightly so as to not to break clear through and injure the man on the other side. It was enough to crack the wall a bit, though, and then she could dig her fingers in and rip open a large hole in the wall for the man to escape through.

"Masaharu!"

Sora had Garudamon lower her toward the hole so she could talk to the man. No doubt he was a bit shocked by their sudden entry, and it was doubtful he'd ever been this close to a digimon before. She wanted to make sure she was front and center so that the man understood this was a rescue and not an assault. Of course, he recognized her immediately from all the videos and pictures they had taken of the children, once the dust from the debris had cleared enough to actually _see_ her.

"...Sora? What... what are you doing? Why did you-"

"I'm getting you out of here! Hop on!"

He hadn't heard much about this girl from his son, so now he just learned his first important fact about her. When it came to getting things done, she wasn't one for subtlety. Not that she really _could_ be with a partner that huge, but still...

"I can't."

Masaharu stood, lifting one hand to reveal the chain that cuffed him to the bed. Dang it... she didn't have a key, either... looks like they'd have to do this the hard way.

Sora signaled her partner to let her off into the hole in order to free up the digimon's hand. They didn't have time for long explanations, so instead Sora just pulled the man as far from the bed as he could go and called for him to duck and cover his head. He wondered why, of course, but he knew better than to stop and ask questions in the middle of a situation like this, so he did as he was told. A second later, Garudamon reached into the room, grabbing the bed frame to rip it out of the wall.

"Garudamon, you'll have to carry the frame. We'll break the chain la-"

"Masaharu!"

Eyes wide, Sora looked back toward the hall where she heard the shout. Guards, and since this was a prison for people and not digimon, it meant they'd be armed with normal guns...

"Crap, run!"

Sora jumped on to her partner's hand, trying to lead Masaharu to do the same, but oddly enough he didn't seem to be moving. In fact, he almost seemed to be waiting for the guards... what the hell was he trying to _do_?

"Wait. Don't worry, we're not in danger..."

Not in danger? Hello, guards with guns? Are you bullet proof now, or am I just missing something?

Sora shouted for him to move again, but this time he ignored her completely, moving back toward the door to his cell. What the heck? Seriously, get on Garudamon's hand!

Much to Sora's surprise, when the guards approached they didn't draw their guns. Instead, one quickly unlocked and opened the cell, and then grabbed another key to... unlock the cuff on Masaharu's wrist? _What_?

"Is it time?"

Masaharu nodded to the guard, rubbing his wrist slightly as it finally got freed, answering before glancing back to Sora.

"I think so. Sora, what's happening?"

What's... huh? It took a few seconds for Sora to piece together what exactly he was asking, in no small part from her confusion at seeing the guard set him free. Obviously it was a prison break, but that was just a piece of a much larger operation...

"...we're taking back the city. Mimi went to the Hunter HQ. She's capturing all the commanders, but we need someone to replace them, and Yamato and SDZ picked you."

Masaharu nodded again, pausing a moment to work through all the details in his head. More than anyone, he and Ken were central to SDZ and Katsu's plans, so he knew a bunch of details that other people wouldn't. Quite a few to go over, given all the contingencies that boy prepared.

"...alright, go down, let out all the captured guys from SDZ. Then check the records for anyone locked up by Command for conspiracy or treason, especially anyone in solitary or high-sec, places where they can't talk to people. They might be there because they know about the treaty. If they do, bring them out too."

Sora had briefly hopped off her partner's hand so that the bird could put down the bed frame before getting back on. Masaharu motioned to her to make room for him as he moved to climb on beside her.

"Keep an eye on the TV for any emergency broadcasts. Somebody should send out orders from there soon. Get going!"

Sora was still confused, even dumbfounded. Masaharu was a prisoner, but also apparently in charge of the very prison he was in... though she'd wait to inquire about it as soon as they were out and in the air, heading back toward the HQ.

Masaharu gave the short version of the explanation, but it was enough. The Hunters... they'd already undermined the authority of Hunter Command and prepared for an overthrow. Everyone was on their side and just waiting for this moment. That meant Mimi was likely having an easy time of it at the headquarters, so they wouldn't have anything to worry about once they arrived. Good. About _time_ things started going their way...

When they arrived, the gate that led through the emergency barrier was already open, with two guards waiting behind it to greet them. The enemies outside the barrier were all gone as well. However... so was Yamato. Did he lead them away, or...

Don't worry about that yet, Sora. Focus on the mission. As soon as her partner devolved to Biyomon, Sora headed in after Masaharu just as he started conversing with the guards.

"Director Ishida, we've taken care of arresting the commanders and head of R&D. Your wife has already been taken down to the bunker in the sub-basement, and we're working on transferring control from the command room to your office."

"Director... huh. Don't bother with that last one. I'll run it from the command room, we don't have time to waste reorganizing stuff right now. First, take me to my wife. Then make sure somebody has some real clothes waiting for me when I get back up. Do you know where Mimi is?"

"The rogue? Yes sir, she should still be up in the command room..."

"Sora said she needed to see her. Have someone show her the way. Now get me to that bunker."

It was strange... for a man untrained in military matters who had been just a civilian working with the Hunters for several years, he seemed to fit in rather well as a commander. Sora briefly wondered if all those years spent working with the Hunters had rubbed off on him, or if maybe he was just a natural at this sort of thing.

The answer, however, was neither. Masaharu wasn't a true commander... he was just a man. A man with a son fighting on the front lines of this war. A man willing to do anything and give anything to save his family. Was he scared? Hell yes. But that fear was nothing next to the fear of losing his son...

So what was an untrained civilian supposed to do, suddenly being promoted to the role of Director of all Hunter affairs? Only one thing _to_ do. Trust. Trust his officers, trust the children... the one thing that he had been consistently good at in the past three years was getting to know people. He knew their character, he knew their skills, and that was his saving grace now. He couldn't command an army worth a damn, but he knew every officer that could. He couldn't hack a computer to save his life, but he knew all of the best tech specialists in the organization. His competency didn't come from his own skill, it came from the skills of every other Hunter in his army.

This also strengthened his command in a more personal sense... while many of the commanders, especially the former director, had been somewhat isolated from those people at the lower ranks for security reasons, Masaharu wasn't. He knew people, people knew him... and most importantly, they trusted him. They knew he was a good man, and he'd proven willing and able to make sacrifices for the good of the war already. He wasn't in this for himself... unlike his predecessor.

So he would take command. He would lead the Digimon Hunters. He would make this the finest hour of his life, and he would bring this war to an end. He knew he would only have this role temporarily, to fill the void until someone more qualified could take over after the war's end... but damned if he wasn't going to be remembered as the best Director that the Hunters ever had.

It was only one day. But for this one day, he carried the future of all of Odaiba, and with it all of Tokyo, Japan, and maybe even the world. It didn't matter whether he was trained for this... he didn't have the luxury of choice. He had only one option, and all the Hunters with him...

They had to fight, and they had to win.

While Masaharu went off to lead his armies, Sora was led up to the command room to meet with Mimi, who had collected what information she could on the state of the standard army in the city. She had also gotten them to bring some extra food for her partner, who had devolved in order to chow down and recover a bit of the energy she had spent.

When Sora arrived, Biyomon quickly joined her fellow digimon while Sora herself went to her 'sister', pulling her into a quick hug before they got down to business.

"Masaharu's here and he's taking command. They're organizing a small army at the prison, too. Everyone that was locked up for knowing too much, and a bunch of people from SDZ. How's it look here?"

"There's still a lot of Hunters, but they're scattered around the city, hiding and probably disarmed. The people here at HQ will take care of gathering them, but they still need to be armed."

"Have you heard from Jou or Yamato?"

"Yam- no... neither. Not since I came inside. Yamato wasn't out there?"

"Not when I got here. Thought you'd know where he went..."

Sora grabbed her digivice to make a quick call. Yamato had fled without informing either of them, which could be either good or bad... if he caught wind of something to help their cause and rushed off to be a hero, that was good. On the other hand, if there was a problem they were unaware of...

"Yamato, where are you?"

"Heading toward the harbor!"

His response was clear and immediate, which was reassuring. It meant he was safe, at least, but... the harbor? That was where...

"It's Phantomon! Zudomon's fighting him now. He's holding his ground, but he needs someone faster to help him, so I'm going to back him up."

Oh crap. Phantomon... they'd planned to deal with him when Myotismon's main force arrived. He wasn't supposed show up this soon!

"We're coming to join y-"

"No! Stay at the HQ! Once Myotismon's army arrives, you'll be its only defense until I get back! We'll be fine... I promise, this time Phantomon _dies_!"

Sora very nearly silenced her digivice and went anyway. It was bad enough having Taichi going through the rift, possibly into ambush... he hadn't contacted them yet, so they had no idea what condition he and Koushiro were in. To have Yamato charging into battle against another of their most dangerous enemies at the same time...

Fortunately, Mimi was there with a firm hand on her arm to calm her down. Love it or hate it, Yamato was right... they had to stay. Besides, last time WereGarurumon had given Phantomon quite the beating. If he fared anywhere near that well this time, then with the help of Zudomon he would definitely win.

"...alright. We'll hold the line here, just... please... stay safe, Yamato."

"Don't worry. I made a promise... save humanity. No way am I going to be caught losing when Taichi gets back. I'd never live it down."

Yamato's casual attitude was a bit odd considering the situation... but Sora also knew that was more than just a quip about his rivalry with Taichi. Joke or no, it was the truth. Their rivalry pushed them to be their best all the time, both to compete and to make sure they never let the other down.

Sora ended the call without another word. She knew he would contact them again as soon as Phantomon was killed or driven away... that was Yamato's way, so they'd talk again soon. In the meantime...

"Palmon, come on."

Mimi motioned to her partner, who finished scarfing down another bit of food before nodding and following toward the stairwell.

"We're going out to the barrier to wait for the enemies to show up."

Sora nodded, motioning for Biyomon to stop as she prepared to follow Palmon out. Food first. They needed to make sure they were all equally ready for the upcoming fight.

"We'll be right behind you."

So one battle was over... the Hunters were now united with the children under a new, trustworthy leader. Now they simply had to hold the line and wait to hear back from Taichi and Yamato... and then the _real_ battle begins.


	18. Resolution

A/N: Ooooookay... finally done with this section, and none too soon. Though it was definitely a unique writing exercise, I can say I'm probably not going to do another of these multiple-chapters-happening-at-the-same-time things again, at least not for _quite_ a while. I'm not really sure why it was so difficult for me to write, but no matter. I'm just glad it's done with. BLAH!

Apologies to everyone for the long delays for the last few chapters, as well as any drop in writing quality. I'll try to crank out the last few chapters as quickly as possible to make up for it, so keep an eye out for them.

Chapter 18: Resolution

**He who would accomplish little must sacrifice little; he who would achieve much must sacrifice much; he who would attain highly must sacrifice greatly.**

Jou and Gomamon were the last to depart. After everyone else had gone they remained behind, helping the Hunters finish loading up all their gear before climbing in the back of one of their vans along with Ryo and a few others.

Their destination: The harbor. Even after all the SDZ teams across the city had been geared up for the fight, the Yakuza continued smuggling in barge after barge of equipment and supplies. All the excess had been stashed away in several harbor warehouses by Ken's orders, to be kept on hand until the time they would be needed. With Sora and Mimi on a mission to overthrow the Hunters and bring them back under the command of the good guys, that time was now...

Of course, there was still a significant question regarding the need for these supplies. Even with the takeover by Myotismon, the Hunters still had a number of hidden armories across the city to restock their troops. Granted, Katsu probably knew where most of them were, so it was risky to try to reach them. Still, they had the Digidestined on their side. With one of the children escorting them it was far from impossible, so why were these harbor supplies so important?

"When SP-7 was activated, Katsu put Ken in charge of importing and stockpiling special issue Hunter weapons and equipment as soon as he was able."

"As soon as he was _able_?"

"The gear in question wasn't in production yet. It was a next-gen design. Our labs around the world had most of the data they needed to design it, but they needed time. A few weeks, maybe a month."

"Which... you got."

Rather conveniently, too. Immediately after Hikari entered the human world, they received word about Katsu's 'death' and Myotismon went quiet for nearly two weeks before he started pursuing them. Jou long since stopped believing in coincidences... Katsu knew they needed time, and then they got it. The question was _how_. Why did Myotismon stop moving for so long? The only thing that happened in that time that the children knew of was Katsu's capture and brainwashing by Myotismon...

"I know."

Ryo finally spoke after a fairly long silence, catching a glance from Jou. He could tell that the boy had been thinking deeply, and he could also guess at what...

"Pretty sure you're thinking the same thing I did. Katsu bought us that time we needed."

Jou nodded lightly, eyes averting toward the floor as he began thinking aloud.

"The reports said he was heading into Myotismon's territory. We thought that he was just going to the one place the Hunters wouldn't follow, and he was unfortunate enough to get caught along the way... now I'm not so sure."

Ryo nodded, glancing briefly out the window to check how far along they were before turning back to Jou.

"I know. The more I think about it, the more I think it was deliberate. Get himself caught, make sure Myotismon knows who he is... he's a boy who knows the ins and outs of both the Hunters and the Digidestined. Probably the most useful source of intel in the whole war, not to mention his tactical genius..."

"And he spends the next two weeks fighting off Myotismon's mind control just to buy us time..."

If it was true, the level of dedication that boy had was staggering. He had to know that he couldn't hold out forever on his own... he was literally throwing himself away just to give the children and Hunters a better chance at victory. Even the Digidestined rarely demonstrated that level of devotion. The way he behaved... courage, knowledge, integrity... he almost seemed to embody the traits of the children's crests better than the Digidestined themselves.

But the real question was, how did he know? Most people would assume that going into Myotismon's territory would lead to death. Even the Digidestined didn't know anything about his mind-control until they met Gatomon, so how could _Katsu_ know? Did he have some unknown source of intel, or was he simply smart enough to Sherlock it on his own?

"Which is part of the reason we waited. We wanted to make sure the Hunters were all armed at once. If Katsu knows about our new weapons, Myotismon does too. But he doesn't know when we started production or how many we have. We wanted to make sure that once we brought them out, _everybody_ was armed with them."

Good plan... even if Myotismon was expecting his enemies to be dangerous, he wouldn't know just how dangerous unless he saw it for himself. He couldn't prepare for something he knew nothing about,

so if they could hit him with overwhelming firepower right from the start, before he had a chance to get ready, that would be their best chance to do maximum damage and drive him back.

Jou and Ryo climbed out of the vehicle as they reached the harbor. Behind them, a couple more trucks came down the road, rolling into one of the warehouses. Jou followed the trucks as Ryo started organizing the Hunters and Yakuza to start moving. There were three main warehouses, each with at least half a dozen trucks inside, likely waiting to be loaded. The central warehouse was the most interesting, however. In addition to the large storage crates in the back, the front area had also been converted into a makeshift clinic for injured Yakuza and SDZ.

As Jou moved to head into the warehouse, Ryo caught up to him again, muttering so that nobody could overhear them, particularly any spies listening in from around them.

"They've already started loading. The first trucks will start moving in five minutes. They'll need an escort as soon as they go."

Jou half-nodded, more focused on the clinic area than the mission. He wasn't worried about the trucks... that was Zudomon's area of expertise. While Jou knew about tactics and strategy, he wasn't a natural fighter. He had always preferred to avoid it whenever possible, yet he also knew that with this war it was needed more often than not. Eventually he worked out a suitable compromise... he was present for the fights in order to empower his digimon partner, but he left the actual fighting and decision-making in said partner's hands.

This left the pair with a rather unique relationship among the Digidestined. Most of the children and their partners shared similar thinking, at least when it came to fighting. Taichi and Agumon were both brash and aggressive, Gabumon and Yamato were both careful and methodical... even Koushiro, the human computer, and his partner, a would-be comedian, shared a preference for precision strikes and hit-and-run attacks to stay out of danger as much as possible. Jou and Gomamon, on the other hand, were polar opposites. Jou preferred to support the rest of the team, to cover their flank or provide backup in a charge. Gomamon, however, was ambitious. When he went into a fight, he went in to win, and nothing pleased him more than to go a step beyond whatever the children had planned.

They shared an understanding, then, in times like this. Gomamon worried about planning for the fight, and Jou took care of whatever else was necessary. He trusted his partner's judgment completely, and Gomamon rather preferred to see the boy focus on other things... hard to be a doctor and a killer at the same time, and the digimon had been the strongest advocate of Jou trying to learn medicine to help the team. It was the smart choice... he liked to help people. More importantly, he was _good_ at it. But that also meant he had the mindset of a healer, not a killer, so Gomamon had to make up for that himself.

So as Jou pushed those thoughts aside, Gomamon started planning, letting his friend's mind shift to other things that were more important to him.

"What's with the clinic? A warehouse isn't really the most sanitary place..."

Ryo glanced over to the warehouse momentarily, wondering why Jou was asking before it suddenly clicked. Ah yes, of course... medical.

"No, but Yakuza and SDZ might not be welcome in the hospitals. Besides, we needed an excuse for the activity here in case spies noticed us. Trucks taking wounded to a makeshift clinic is less suspicious than smugglers, and they don't care about targeting our wounded. We're not enough of a threat."

As Ryo turned and headed away, Jou paused to ponder for a moment. No, _you're_ not... but now that I'm here with you...

"Don't worry, I'll keep an eye out. Nobody's gonna catch me off guard."

Jou nodded, though a worry still hung at the back of his mind. Them coming here might draw unwanted attention that would lead to some of the wounded men and women in the clinic getting further hurt or even killed... he didn't like it, but they couldn't just leave, either. They were needed to cover the trucks.

Shrugging off his worries for the moment, Jou left his partner to keep watch as he headed into the clinic, checking on the condition of the people laid out on the tables and mats. Most were in decent shape, even those that had received severe injuries. They obviously had a good doctor here... some would still need to be taken to a hospital after this was all done, but at least they were being kept stable in the meantime.

"They told me one of the rogues was coming..."

Jou suddenly felt his heart freeze in his chest. That voice... he'd know it from anywhere. Three years and it still echoed in his mind more clearly than even those of his friends. Perhaps he knew that this meeting was going to happen... truthfully, it _was_ rather inevitable, wasn't it? If not before the war ended, then after... but he consistently tried to ignore that idea and keep on with the fighting because he didn't want to think about it.

"...with seven of you, I didn't dare hope that it might be _you_."

What was that Jou heard in his voice? Even after three years apart... three years of growing and learning and getting a clearer perspective on his life, he still had no idea. Was it apprehension, or... was it still disappointment?

Three years... there were a few occasions Jou thought that when he met his father again he'd see more alike in them than not. That all that time spent fighting might have honed his clarity and maturity, giving him some insight into his father's mind and allowing him to better understand how his father thought. Instead, when he turned to meet that stern gaze he found he was suddenly a child again. All his trials and experiences in the digital world, and he still felt as small as ever beneath that man's gaze... perhaps now even smaller than before.

"...they need me. My digimon is the best choice for an escort."

Logic. Responsibility. Jou spoke the language his father knew best, trying, as he always did, to live up to the man's lofty expectations. Instead he was answered by a creased brow that echoed the disappointment the boy knew all too well from his younger days, and still dreaded more than the entirety of Myotismon's army put together.

His words were followed by a pause that seemed to stretch on for an eternity, though in truth it only lasted a few seconds. Finally the man's eyes flicked to one side, to one of the mats where there lay a young man... probably Hunter by the look of him, though everyone in the clinic was dressed in the same fashion, making it hard to be sure. The doctor moved to the young man's side, eyes moving away from Jou, though his attention remained.

"How are the other rogues?"

That question was enough to snap Jou out of his internal spiral of dread and worry. It was exactly what the boy didn't expect to hear. What did _he_ care about the rest of the rogues? He didn't even _know_ any of- oh wait...

"Hikari's shoulder is almost completely healed. She's been able to join the fighting with the rest of us."

"I didn't ask about Hikari."

Jou froze again. More disappointment, he could hear it clearly enough this time... damn it all, why couldn't he do anything right when he was around his father?

"Though that's good to hear. I wasn't sure if her traveling to the digital world would cause complications."

Jou cleared his throat, gathering all his wits to try... _try_ to do something, say something... say anything that didn't leave his father upset or disappointed with him yet again. That's all he wanted... it wasn't too much to ask, was it?

"Actually... injuries seem to heal faster in the digital world, for some reason. We don't know why... Koushiro is still studying how that world's laws work..."

Jou stopped suddenly, only barely avoiding sounding awkward as he did. Idiot, he doesn't care about the physics of the digital world, just answer his question!

"But they're... fine. Most of them are in perfect health. Sora and Yamato, less so... Yamato isn't resting enough. Insomnia. I think he has nightmares, but he won't admit it. He's crashed a few times from pushing himself too hard... it wasn't so bad at first, but it's getting more common."

A brief nod was the first slight sign of approval that Jou could remember getting from that man... all the ones from before the war were forgotten in a haze of dread and worry, beneath all those times of disappointment and the fear that he would once again be disappointed once they met again.

"And Sora?"

"She has... phases. She's gotten injured as many times as the rest of the team put together, but that's because of the way she fights. She takes too much on herself. It-"

"What did you mean by _phases_?"

"Well... whenever she gets injured she backs off for a little while, but then she starts up again after she gets better. I tried convincing her to stop and she said she would... but she forgets that as soon as the fighting starts. It's gotten better lately, now that we have all our crests... but I get the feeling that's because she doesn't know how far she can get away with pushing herself yet. If this war doesn't end soon, she'll start getting hurt again... probably worse than before."

"Then you have to end it."

That comment stunned Jou even more than the previous one, doubly so when his father turned to face him with those familiar eyes... end it? His father was telling him to _fight_? That was extremely out of character for the man, at least from everything the boy knew. Yet when he saw those eyes, he saw the same level of intensity he knew from all those other times as a child, hearing his father's words... the words of a man he believed to be a pacifist.

So what to say? Facing a side of his father he had never encountered, he didn't have the slightest clue what might earn the man's approval, yet under the weight of those eyes he knew he had to say _something_.

"Twelve hours."

Jou wasn't quite sure where those words came from, but there they were. It was better than standing there silently like an idiot, at any rate...

"...twelve hours?"

Jou quickly nodded, throwing together the rest of his response on the fly, trying to feign competence and control, though deep down he knew he was likely failing horribly...

"If our plan works, this war will be over within twelve hours. Myotismon will be dead and all our enemies will be routed."

There was something in his father's eyes that Jou didn't recognize this time. It wasn't disappointment, though he couldn't quite silence the dread voice in the back of his mind telling him it was. It was... no, not curiosity. He was clearly interested, but Jou had no idea why.

"And will it work?"

What was he supposed to say to _that_? Yes? No? I hope? It had better? How was _he_ supposed to know if it would work? _All_ the children were doing their best to make it work, but they couldn't claim they knew how this would turn out one way or the other...

"That... depends on us."

There was another silence, followed by a firm nod. Was that... was that approval? True, straightforward, God-honest _approval_? That left Jou more confused than anything. He couldn't remember the last time he'd gotten a response like that... if ever. At first he wasn't sure if he believed it, and if it was true, he had no idea how to respond.

"Then get back to work... remember, _twelve hours_."

Jou gaze a familiar, sharp nod from his childhood. He knew that tone... it was the tone his father used when he was giving a strict command. He expected to see the war concluded, and if he said twelve hours, then it was going to happen in twelve hours, and it was Jou's duty to make sure of that. Sure, it was the duty of all the other children as well, but this was a command from _his_ father, and the expectation was to him above all others.

"I'll make sure of it."

Jou's heart pounded like a drum in his chest. What began as fear had turned into anticipation. So many years spent trying to earn his father's approval, only to be faced with disappointment... and this was his chance to set it all right. He would succeed... he _had to_.

How ironic... even with the countless thousands of lives at stake and all the responsibility that entailed, the words and opinion of one man still did more to motivate him. He would have pursued victory either way, but now he _wanted_ it... and more than ever before.

Turning away, Jou headed out of the warehouse quickly, first to get Gomamon, who was still standing watch in the same place he had been before.

"Nothing yet. I asked one of the guys here who was on watch and they said they had some of those sensors up around the place to detect the guys they can't see, so I'm pretty sure we're safe.

Jou nodded. Good. They wanted as little trouble for this group as possible. The more time they had to prep, the fewer men they'd lose in the endgame. Ideally, the heavy fighting wouldn't start at all until the Hunters were fully armed. Granted, the chances of that actually happening were close to zero... but they could still hope for the best.

As for Gomamon, on the surface he seemed as casual as ever, but Jou knew him well enough to see the subtle differences in his attitude. He was excited... he hadn't gotten many chances to fight since they located Jou's crest, and the last big battle had been all hit-and-run, trying to hold off a massive offensive. This was their first real fight where they would have the chance to really _win_. All they could do before was slow down the enemy's advance and bleed them out. The overall outcome of that battle wouldn't have been much different had they done better or worse.

Not so this time. This time, they decided everything. If they won, they won the war. If they lost, the war continued... possibly toward their defeat. Now was their time to _shine_, and damned if he wasn't going to live up to it. Time to show Myotismon the meaning of _destined_.

The duo quickly went to find Ryo, who was busy talking to several Yakuza and Hunters, making sure everyone was clear both on what they were doing and why. They wouldn't have time to send out new orders once they started moving, so if they had to adjust the plan on the fly he wanted everyone to be able to do so on their own. Once they were dismissed, he turned his attention to Jou and Gomamon.

"Almost ready. We're going to start with only a few trucks in the first convoy, then once they get to the HQ we'll have them send some men armed with the new gear to set up guard posts along the road to help with protecting the future trucks. Once that's done, we'll start moving the bulk of the equipment, then you can rejoin the other Digidestined for whatever you need to do next."

Good plan. Cautious, so not likely to cost very many lives, but once they really got moving they would be able to arm the Hunter army quickly. That would let them move on to the next phase of the plan quickly, before Myotismon would have too much time to prepare a response.

Jou and Gomamon headed to the edge of the harbor, near the street that the trucks were set to take, watching the warehouses behind them. Several trucks began to exit the warehouses, stopping just outside to line up with the other trucks that were coming out, forming the first convoy as they prepared to depart...

...and then everything went to hell.

Several loud, blaring sirens sounded around the harbor. Initially it was enough to shock both Jou and Gomamon into wondering just what was going on, but it only took a second for them to both piece it together. Sirens... an alarm, and there was only one thing around here that was set to sound any such alarm: The DG sensors.

They were under attack.

Gomamon was evolved to Zudomon before a word could even be said. Jou quickly grabbed on to his back shell as he ran back toward the warehouses before dropping back off again. They couldn't see where their enemy is, but they weren't going to wait around... the closer the enemy got to the trucks, the bigger the risk, so they had to go out and hunt down the attackers before they could get close.

"RYO!"

He didn't need to hear the question before he knew what Jou was going to ask. His partner was evolved, so he was in battle mode. There was only one possible question for him _to_ ask.

"The water! Underwater digimon, preparing to surface! High power level, probably perfect!"

"Good!"

Zudomon shouted and rushed to the water's edge. Nobody would have a chance to figure out why he would be _happy_ about something like that, but at least he wasn't worried... hopefully that meant the battle would end quickly, without anyone getting hurt.

Jou already knew, though... Zudmon could defeat nearly any of Myotismon's minions in single combat, so if he was going to face one of them, better for it to be a strong one. That was one less perfect to cause them problems elsewhere.

As soon as the giant sea serpent emerged from the water it was met by a hammer to the head, immediately sending it back under. Whatever chaos the Hunters and Yakuza were expecting was stopped short, along with any worries they had as Zudomon dove off the edge of the harbor to follow the serpent underwater and do battle with it there, away from the warehouse or the convoy he was trying to protect.

There was silence for a few seconds as everyone stood, waiting for some sign of what was happening beneath the waves. Finally, Ryo snapped them out of it and shouted at the trucks to get moving and finish setting up the convoy.

Meanwhile, Jou merely waited and watched the water, waiting for his friend to emerge. He wasn't worried about him losing... it didn't matter who he faced, he was one of the most heavily armored digimon in their group. He might have a bit of trouble, but he wasn't going to be taken down by a single enemy like _that_.

As the convoy finished lining up, something finally broke free from the surface of the water... though not the one they expected. The massive serpent arose again, this time with no hammer waiting at the edge of the water to knock it back down. It immediately began charging energy in its horn, clearly preparing to unleash some sort of attack, either at the Hunters or at Jou... though the boy didn't budge, even as the rest of the people around him began to scatter.

Ryo shouted to Jou to run, though he was interrupted by Zudomon's arm emerging from the water to throw his hammer at the sea dragon's head. The impact was enough to crack its armored helmet, including a part of its horn. The damage was enough to cause the energy it held to explode, sending the creature collapsing back under the waves, apparently for the last time.

A good half minute passed before Zudomon finally emerged onto the harbor again, clearly satisfied. He'd confirmed that it was dead, having applied a little extra force to ensure that fact, so they were safe. Best not to waste any time, then.

"Ryo, we're moving out! Let the convoy know!"

The swiftness of their victory almost seemed to be cause for celebration. If Zudomon could end their enemies that efficiently, they had nothing to fear. Unfortunately, that celebration was cut short as Zudomon, with Jou on his back, reached the road leading out of the harbor and the siren sounded again.

"Is that _us_?"

Jou shouted back to Ryo, almost thinking that it was a glitch... maybe the sensors were picking up Zudomon? But no... it was clear by the shouts of the men in the distance that it was something else, though Jou wasn't close enough to make out what they were saying, and Ryo didn't get back fast enough to relay it to them before he found out personally.

One of the nearby speakers let out a loud, distorted screech before falling silent. Jou turned just in time to see it crash down to the pavement from atop the power line it was mounted on, split clean in half, and hovering above it, the one responsible...

"Oh hell..."

He wasn't supposed to be here. He was supposed to go after the HQ, where they had the most defenders. Three Digidestined, not one... that's one of the reasons Yamato was attacking so openly, making a scene. He was trying to attract the attention of the worst the enemy had, while Jou was trying to be subtle and hide until they were ready to come out... but apparently subtlety had failed them.

Instinctively, Jou grabbed his digivice and made a call to his friend at the HQ, faster than his brain could have done so consciously.

"Yamato, Phantomon's at the harbor."

The next move Jou had to make was to drop down his partner's shell as a scythe came up over his head, where his neck would have been had he not ducked. Phantomon was promptly swatted away by Zudomon's arm, though he failed to get a direct hit with the head of his hammer. He was tough, yes, but not nearly fast enough to hit such a mobile target.

Jou quickly descended to the ground, getting away as far and as fast as his feet could take him even as Phantomon turned his attention to the giant walrus. Jou wasn't particularly worried about his friend, even when the reaper got a clean hit across his arm. The damage was still insignificant. His bare skin was as tough as some digimon's armor, to say nothing of those parts of him that actually _were_ armored. Back attacks were impossible as they would simply be reflected by his shell, and he could deflect attacks with his bare hands due to the pelt that covered them, further mitigating damage.

So it didn't matter how slow he was. Even if he couldn't hit Phantomon, he could at least distract him until they got help from someone significantly faster, and he could weather the enemy attacks as long as necessary.

Most of the Hunters and Yakuza quickly abandoned their trucks, determined to get away from this fight. They all knew who Phantomon was, and even if they didn't, the fact that he could stand up to Zudomon meant they wanted to be anywhere but here. A single stray attack could kill any of them, and with where the battle was taking place, they couldn't move most of the trucks out of the way. They had to back the ones at the rear into the warehouses first, and the rest of the drivers weren't going to stay out and wait in their seats until it was their turn to follow...

Fortunately, for someone so big and apparently clumsy, Zudomon managed to move rather deftly, avoiding all the trucks with his attacks, and moving quickly enough to keep Phantomon on his toes. His attacks and motions were clearly random, which made it unlikely he'd land a hit, but then he probably wouldn't be able to do so even if he was being careful, given Phantomon's speed. There was a benefit, though... his randomness made him impossible to read. Was he protecting the trucks? The warehouses? The clinic? He gave no hint as to his intentions, so Phantomon would have to figure it out on his own.

The first set of trucks withdrew into one of the warehouses and they quickly closed that building's main entrance. Then as the drivers emerged to grab some of the other trucks, Phantomon suddenly turned his attention to them, perhaps because they seemed important, perhaps because they were simply easy targets, out in the open. Zudomon ran to intercept, of course, hoping to take advantage of the moment of distraction and catch his enemy off guard from behind.

Then, just as his scythe was about to strike the shoulder of one of the drivers, he snapped it back up and dove wildly to the side, ducking past Zudomon's arm and getting behind him.

He didn't care about the drivers. That was just a distraction designed to misdirect Zudomon's attention and get him right where Phantomon wanted him... which was well out of range to protect his human partner.

Jou ducked and rolled to the side just in time to dodge the first attack, though the stinging pain in his shoulder indicated that he wasn't quite fast enough. The mark the blade left was minor, but the next one wouldn't be if he couldn't get behind cover.

Unfortunately, the only place close enough to go was the clinic... injured Hunters and Yakuza... he would be drawing attention to people Phantomon could target, or use as bait... damn it!

Jou was an idiot and he knew it. He had no chance to escape in the open. His attacker was too fast... but he damn well wasn't going to endanger those lives just for _his_ sake.

As he tried to move away from the warehouse, however, he wasn't given much of a choice. Phantomon was suddenly in front of him, scythe up, ready to strike. Jou had only a split second to react, or it was over...

...all things considered, throwing his digivice was probably one of his dumber options.

Even so, it worked surprisingly well. He hit the stationary phantom in the face, causing the digivice to erupt with a bright light that was reminiscent of the battles against Devimon and his gear-controlled minions. It didn't turn Phantomon good like it would have for an enemy with a gear, but it stunned him for a second, long enough for Jou to turn and sprint away.

However, now he was pissed off. Battle after battle, day after day, trying to hunt and eliminate these children, and then just as he's about to succeed, he gets stopped by a _trinket thrown at his FACE?_ And next, Zudomon is going to show up behind him and save his friend at the last second? No. To hell with that. This boy _dies_, right here, _right NOW_!

Jou didn't have a chance to stop and look back and see Phantomon's scythe coming down. All he felt was a shock of pain as he was suddenly thrown sideways and slammed into the side of one of the trucks. Biting back the pain, Jou turned his head sideways toward where he had been standing, trying to figure out what just happened.

And there he saw it. The crimson blade and the body that lay before it on the pavement. The body...

"_**DAAAAAD!**_"

Zudomon's hammer smashed sideways into Phantomon's back, sending him flying away from the warehouse. He quickly righted himself, stopping in mid-air to turn his attention back toward the digimon, though now he found himself being attacked from multiple sides. From the entrance of the third warehouse were a dozen Hunters and Yakuza, armed with the new Hunter weapons, firing everything they had at him. Behind them were countless other men and women, unloading crates and arming themselves to join their allies as well. Those weapons alone couldn't beat him, but they hurt quite a bit more than the old ones, which would give Zudomon the edge he needed.

But none of that mattered to Jou, who was instead at his father's side, checking his wound. It was... oh god... it was _horrendous_. A bloody line from one shoulder down to the opposite side of his waist, blood everywhere, hard pieces protruding from around parts of the wound, almost definitely bone... all the wounds the digidestined faced put together didn't come close to this!

No... damn it all to hell! NO! He couldn't do anything for _this_! A team of fully-trained doctors would have a hard time fixing something like this, and that was only the surface damage. It was impossible to know how deep the cut went or what damage he might have suffered to his internal organs, though the blood at the edge of his mouth was a good sign that at least one of his lungs had been hit.

Several man and women joined him at his father's side, one or two of them quickly ripping off the man's shirt to get a better view of the wound, as the others simply stood back, horrified by the grisly sight.

"GET HIM INTO THE CLINIC AND CALL AN AMBULANCE, _**NOW**_!"

As the men moved to follow Jou's order, they were interrupted by his father, though he could barely do more than mutter in his current condition.

"No. Ribs cut... only make it... worse..."

Damn it, he was right... broken bone. Trying to move him would almost definitely cut him up internally. Jou cursed under his breath and turned back to the others again. Clearly they were all at a loss as for what to do. They had basic medical training to deal with situations that required first aid, but this was well beyond what they were capable of dealing with.

"Get some gauze and styptic, we'll treat him right here. And call that ambulance!"

Even as several people rushed off, Jou's father reached up, albeit barely, to grab his hand and stop him. He knew what his condition was... he had no chance of survival short of a miracle, and the Digidestined children had those reserved for saving their own lives, not others...

"Jou... I never..."

"Don't talk. Save your energy."

Jou tried to silence him, unable or... maybe simply unwilling to accept that his father couldn't survive this. They'd endured impossible situations before... they were too close to the end of this... not _now_... just another day... one more day and the war ends, I don't want to lose you _now_!

"I... never cared... if you... became a doctor... or not..."

He didn't care if the boy didn't want to listen, he didn't have enough time to be quiet and talk later. This needed saying, and it needed saying now... it was the last thing he would ever have the chance to say, so he wasn't going to waste it on something trivial.

"It wasn't about... following... my footsteps... it was about... people."

Jou blinked, half confused, half still-desperate and trying to keep the bleeding down while being careful not to injure his father worse with all the cut ribs he had... it wasn't working.

"_People_? What do you-"

"_Lives_. People's lives... nothing... is more... important... than saving... lives."

Jou nodded quickly, his mind racing faster and faster as the impending moment continued to draw closer... he wouldn't think about it. He _couldn't_. But that did nothing to stop its rapid approach.

"And I will. I'll _save_ your life, I'll end this war, I'll become a doctor, I-"

"No... you already... do..."

"Wh... what? I already...?"

"You... already... save lives... you... your digimon..."

Jou shook his head almost violently as the others returned with the items he requested, preparing to administer them.

"No, it's not the same and you know it!"

"Jou... doctor... or not... you're... a hero... all... of you... I'm proud... of you... and... I... love... you..."

And with that, he knew his time had come. Though he may have had the strength in him to mutter a few more words, he would not. He'd said everything he could... as for the rest, Jou would come to realize it in time. Both from speaking to his brothers and his mother, and on his own, though simple time and experience.

And thus, with a final breath, he closed his eyes, exhaled... and he was gone.

"Wh... what... dad... DAD! _**NO!**_ _DON'T! __**PLEASE!**__ DAD!_ DON'T...! don't...!"

Jou collapsed to a fetal position over his father's body, blood smearing across his glasses and staining all of his clothing. His entire body convulsed with a single sob, but no more. Suddenly everything was silent. A single thought had passed through the boy's mind... his father, as he always was in the worst of times. Hard as iron and cold as ice.

There was still a battle. Still a war. He would weep, he would grieve... but not now. Not today. That was for tomorrow, and the lifetime to follow. Today... here... now... it was time to fight. Time to kill.

Time to be a hero.

Jou quickly sat up, removing his glasses. Those around him noticed the shift in his demeanor immediately, though they were each too terrified to say anything, especially those of the Hunters. SDZ... they knew that look. A child gone hard. It reminded them of Katsu, and it scared them more than even that monster that had struck down the boy's father.

Standing, he removed his glasses, handing them to the closest person he could see.

"Clean these."

He promptly stripped off his bloody mess of a shirt, wiping his hands with it as best he could before throwing it aside. He couldn't see very well without his glasses, but he could see vague shapes well enough... vague shapes and bright lights.

He quickly located and retrieved his digivice from where it lay near the trucks, and only a moment later the Hunter returned with his glasses. They were wet and still a little smudged with blood, but they were clean enough to use and see the battle with. And the first thing he saw was... Yamato. The boy also saw him in turn, and he didn't even need to ask about what happened. It was written all over the boy, both literally and figuratively. From his bloody pants and skin to his frigid expression. Ryo had told him that Jou's father had been injured by Phantomon... Ryo hadn't seen him close up, so he didn't know if the man might survive, but it was clear now that he hadn't...

So... what was left? Just the two boys, their digimon, the Hunters... and Myotismon's general. And one of those was about to be removed from the picture.

WereGarurumon was caught in a duel with Phantomon, the two of them moving too quickly and too close together for the Hunters or Zudomon to get involved. They couldn't target one of them without risk of hurting the other. Phantomon also had a slight advantage... but that was about to change. Running up to Zudomon's back, Jou quickly ascended until he was standing near the back of his partner's head.

"Look for an opening. When you get it, _kill_ him."

Jou was a helper. A healer. He saved lives, he didn't end them... but for this person... this _one_ digimon, he would make an exception.

Yamato ran around so that he was standing behind Phantomon, where the digimon couldn't see him. He knew what was about to happen, so he figured he may as well help. As soon as his partner noticed him there, he made a sharp gesture to one side, cuing his friend to move clear of Phantomon's range. Then immediately, in a single, coordinated motion, WereGarurumon did a back-flip away from the reaper as Zudomon's hammer came down and smashed Phantomon into the pavement.

As soon as the weapon was lifted off of him, Phantomon jumped free, dodging a potential follow-up attack, at least from Zudomon. However, the Hunters and Yakuza were just as eager for blood for all the people they had lost, both to Phantomon and to his master... and since it was doubtful they'd ever have a chance to kill Myotismon personally, _he_ would have to do.

The storm of weapons fire forced Phantomon to dive behind some nearby trucks for cover. He promptly emerged from the far side, sweeping back around and making a beeline for the humans who were targeting him with their guns, intending to tear through half of them with a single swipe of his blade.

Unfortunately for him, the destined children knew what he was thinking before he did, he was caught off-guard by an ambush from above as WereGarurumon dropped down from the roof of the warehouse, seizing him and shoving him down to the pavement.

He broke free, taking to the air again to escape, only to be swatted by Zudomon's hammer like a baseball. The blow threw him into a nearby truck, nearly knocking it onto its side in the process.

Enough of this... he couldn't win against these odds. He had to get out while he was still in one piece.

Phantomon quickly ascended high above the range of his attackers, intending to repeat the end of their last meeting, escaping as their enemies took a firm advantage of the fight. And as they had no flying digimon with which to follow him, he was safe to escape without worry... right?

No. _You. __**Goddamn. DON'T!**_

Jou did something odd then. He called WereGarurumon over to him. Normally only the digimon's human partner called them or gave them orders, but this was a special case, and he knew that Yamato trusted Jou, so he would follow his lead.

"Roll up into a ball – Zudomon, _throw him!_"

Fortunately, the two digimon understood immediately, so they didn't delay and risk giving Phantomon a chance to escape. The wolf jumped into the walrus' hand, curling up into a tight ball to make this throw as easy as possible. Hopefully he was as good a pitcher as he was a batter...

Phantomon never saw it coming. How could he? A flying werewolf being thrown at him by a walrus pitcher and catching him in mid-air made about as much sense as a hamster growing wings and turning into an angel. Nevertheless, there he was, and between the impact and the wolf seizing him around the neck, he was quickly pulled down. As he began his free fall, wrestling against the wolf on his back, Zudomon chased after them, leaving behind the Hunters to join WereGarurumon when they both got down to the ground.

The werewolf jumped off of him just before they hit the ground, and the sudden shift in weight and aerial direction was enough to disorient the reaper long enough for Zudomon to smash him into the pavement with another firm blow from his hammer.

"Again!"

All the hits they'd landed were finally taking their toll. Phantomon was finally starting to feel the damage, causing him to move and react much slower than he had been before. He tried to break free and take to the air as soon as the heavy hammer was lifted off of him, but WereGarurumon caught him first, kicking him into the outer wall of a nearby building. Then acting off Jou's command, Zudomon flattened him into the pavement again with another hard blow.

"AGAIN!"

This time he wasn't up fast enough, and before he could even move from his spot on the ground the hammer came down again, even harder than before, crushing the pavement and leaving a small crater beneath where Phantomon lay. From the looks of it, it seemed that they'd done enough. Phantomon had been firmly beaten down until he couldn't even move anymore. It was possible that he'd die from the damage he already took, or that the children might even be able to capture and interrogate him...

...like hell.

Jou muttered one final command to his partner, to have him finish the job. He raised his Thor's Hammer for a final blow, though this time he spun it around in his hand so that this time it was the pick side coming down, tearing straight through Phantomon's chest. His scream of anguish was brief, followed by his dropping both his weapons, which promptly disintegrated as they hit the ground.

..._now_ they'd done enough.

Zudomon drew his pick from Phantomon's chest, finally relaxing. Without his weapons, the digimon couldn't do any more harm to them, so they were safe. The children stood by, watching as his body began to disintegrate. Yet, oddly enough, as it did, he didn't react as they expected. Instead, he started... laughing.

"Hah... haaah... he's... gone... he's finally... gone..."

Jou narrowed his eyes, unsure of what the digimon was saying, but asked him partner to let him down anyway. The enemy was disarmed, so they were safe... and he wanted to hear this. Yamato followed suit, approaching Phantomon even as his partner stood guard beside him.

"I... no longer hear his voice... thank you, Children... thank you for... freeing me..."

Freeing him... so it was true, what Gatomon said. Phantomon was just a pawn of Myotismon like every other, only twisted much further than any of the other minions into the image of his master. Jou pondered whether or not he should feel sorry for the poor bastard, though ultimately he concluded that it didn't matter. His fate was the same either way... and if he returned to Primary Village to be reborn, perhaps he was better off this way.

"Children... listen... you have to know... you are not Myotismon's true targets..."

Jou grimaced, having already heard the dying words of one man... his own father, the man he respected more than anyone else in the world. To follow it up with _this_... the words of one of their most hated enemies... but he knelt down to listen anyway. His father's words were important to his life, but this was important to the war. Whether or not he wanted to listen, he had to, for _everyone's_ sakes. That was the price of having... _integrity_.

"What do you mean? We've _always_ been his target."

Phantomon shook his head, albeit barely, as his torso rapidly dissolved into the raw data that composed him.

"No... you were merely... allies of the _real_ target..."

"The real target... Gennai?"

He shook his head again, coughing slightly. Not much time. Have to speak quickly...

"No... the girl... Myotismon found... a prophecy... that speaks of his doom... at the hands of the child..."

A prophecy? Why hadn't they heard about this before? With all the time rummaging through the Dark Network, both them _and_ Datamon, they hadn't found even a hint of this. Perhaps he hadn't informed anyone save his closest minions, but even Gatomon and Wizardmon didn't know anything about this...

"We've never heard about any prophecies."

Phantomon finally nodded in agreement. Of course they hadn't. He already knew that. Myotismon had made it quite clear the price of passing this knowledge on to anyone...

"He told only me... my original purpose was to... assassinate her... once... she was... found..."

Phantomon reached up, grabbing Jou's arm in one hand even as his other hand quickly dissolved into nothing. He pulled the boy down to his knees as Yamato and WereGarurumon rushed to his side, concerned that Phantomon may be attempting a last-ditch attack. On the contrary... his voice was fading along with the rest of him, and these words were too important to risk not being heard.

Then a few seconds later, he was gone, disappearing into nothing. Jou remained on his knees for several seconds, brow creased in confusion as Yamato and WereGarurumon tried to help him to his feet. Though he heard Phantomon's words clearly enough, he couldn't say the same for the meaning behind them. Granted, he could understand how they might be interpreted to speak of Myotismon's demise, but... he and the other children also knew something that Myotismon apparently didn't.

"Jou!"

Jou finally snapped back to attention, turning to face Yamato, who'd been trying to get his attention for a while.

"What did he _say_?"

Jou paused to think for a moment. Should he... no. Not here. Too much to do, and Yamato was the last person who needed to hear those words, given what memories they might call back.

"There's no time – go help the convoy get to the HQ. We're already running late."

His attempt to divert Yamato's attention was about as subtle as a brick to the face, and had he not been arguably the most trustworthy member of the team, Yamato probably wouldn't have let him get away with it. But the boy would trust his judgment on this... if he didn't want to talk about it, there had to be a reason, and Yamato would simply have to trust that once he _did_ learn what the prophecy was about, he would understand why.

The boys headed back to the warehouses together, rejoining the combined Hunter and Yakuza forces as they finished getting their convoy in position to head out again. While Yamato filled Ryo in on what had happened with Phantomon, Jou went off to one side to quickly scrub off as much blood from his hands as he could before getting a new shirt from one of the Hunters.

As he did, he spotted several of them moving his father's body away, toward places unknown. He wanted to say something... but seeing his father's mess of a corpse, he instinctively turned his gaze away. He couldn't stand to see that... not now. He had to keep control of himself. The fighting was just getting started.

As he thought on these things, apparently one of the Hunters noticed him there, as he was approached a few seconds later by a man holding what looked like a white cloth folded up in his hands.

"Don't worry. We'll take care of your father's body and make sure he gets a proper burial, so focus on your own priorities. Also..."

The man held the cloth out, unfolding it before Jou. As he did, it was suddenly clear just what it was. His father's medical coat... he hadn't been wearing it when he was taking care of people in the clinic, or when he... protected his son, so it was still perfectly clean.

And now he was offering it to Jou.

The boy quickly shook his head, trying to push it away, but the man pressed it forward to him, insisting.

"Take it. I know you're not a doctor, but... that man was a hero to many of us. I'd like to know that when Myotismon dies, it's at the hands of someone wearing this coat. It's the best tribute I can think to give..."

Jou took a deep, heavy breath. A tribute... alright, that was fair. It still felt as if he didn't deserve to even touch it, let alone wear it, but it was for his father and all the lives he had saved. Twelve hours, he said... he wanted this war to end. Well, he wouldn't see it with his own eyes... but for him, for his memory... Jou could take this into that final battle with him.

What would his father think, he wondered, if he knew his son was wearing his medical coat as and his digimon partner charged into battle against Myotismon?

Heh... he'd probably disapprove... again. That was the attire of a healer, not a killer, and it was being worn by a boy who wasn't even a doctor, not to mention being too small for it. Ah... what the heck.

Jou nodded and took the garb, quickly pulling it over his shoulders. Wow... he was _really_ too small for it. He'd make do, though. It was Zudomon who was going to be doing the fighting anyway, not him, so it wasn't like he had to worry about tripping over it.

Thanking the Hunter, he headed back toward Yamato and Ryo, who were already waiting for his return. The convoy was ready to depart. They only needed their escort. So, quickly mounting his partner, Jou signaled for Yamato to take the lead with the significantly faster Garurumon while he followed up behind them. He needed to keep some distance between himself and Yamato so he could call Hikari... she had to know about the prophecy Phantomon spoke of, and he didn't want the other boy to hear of it yet. It would be too much of a distraction to bring back memories of... _that_ place.

So another battle was over... albeit at great cost. Once they finished arming the Hunters and reunited with Taichi and Koushiro, they could move to the offensive. Almost there... all that was left was to break the back of Myotismon's army. Then they could hunt down the mastermind himself...


	19. Dedication

A/N: Nothing to say about this chapter, except that I'm glad to get back to Hikari's perspective again. As for the rest... well, we're getting down to the end, so I'm just going to let the story speak for itself. Enjoy!

Chapter 19: Dedication

**I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live by the light that I have.**

While the rest of the children got to work preparing the city for recapture, Hikari made her way with Ken and their small team to the TV station to join the Hunters already there. As soon as they arrived, Ken headed off to start overseeing all the technical preparations for SP-2 while Hikari was taken to the upper floors to meet with the head of the station.

Oddly enough, everyone there in the building apparently recognized her, or at least knew enough about her to realize who she was on sight. Not that carrying a digimon on her shoulder made it hard to figure out, but the fact that no one seemed surprised to see a rogue walking around the station was a bit strange...

Perhaps more strange was the fact that Hikari wasn't brought to an office to meet with the head of the station. Instead, she was brought to the main security station, which was already guarded by a half-dozen men with data-based weapons, on top of the team that Hikari brought with her.

"Ah... welcome, Hikari. We heard you were here. The boy that came with you has already started prepping everything for SP-2."

Clean and efficient, just the way Katsu liked it. It was a sentiment that Hikari shared, though she was still somewhat unnerved by the apparent over-preparation of everyone here...

"How do you know about me? And for that matter, SP-2?"

The man looked a bit nervous, a sign that he wasn't accustomed to dealing with military personnel. He clearly wasn't SDZ, then... but how would an outsider know the things he did?

"We have several Hunter personnel here... people under your command. They filled us in on the change in command, after you took over. And as for SP-2... all the management in the station was told about it after... Mr. Ishida recruited us."

Katsu strikes again. Though that was also worrying, because it meant he would also know about their loyalties... with Myotismon's spies running all around this city, it was possible that this station had been compromised.

"How did he 'recruit' you?"

"Well, back at the start of the war... _this_ war, that is, after Etemon was beaten out, he came here and told us about his new job, working for the Hunters, and... well, he basically just recruited all the station management into SDZ right there."

"Wait... you're all part of SDZ?"

"Not officially... we don't do any military stuff. We're considered part of the 'civilian branch' which basically just means that we had a secure line for the Hunters to call us on, and if anyone from SDZ calls and gives us orders, we do what they say. Our only real job was to trigger SP-2 when the order came."

"You said 'new job.' Did Masaharu used to work here?"

Gatomon cut in, receiving a nod of confirmation in turn. But that meant...

The glance from her partner confirmed that she was thinking the same as Hikari. If this was all Masaharu's doing, maybe Katsu _didn't_ know all the details. It was possible, at least... these were Masaharu's friends and former co-workers, so Katsu may have simply left him in charge of handling the whole affair. That would be a boon for them... the less he knew, the better. _Any_ knowledge was dangerous in that boy's possession.

"We do have a few people from the Hunters working here, though. Mostly security. Masaharu pulled some strings and got them moved here somehow. I don't know the details."

Hikari nodded, glancing back to the head of her own team a moment as she pondered the situation. Ken was taking care of SP-2, but that would mostly be done by the civilian personnel. The men with the guns were doing nothing but standing guard, and while they would undoubtedly have work to do after the orders were given out and enemies started attacking the station, right now they were doing nothing. Well, that's a bit of a waste...

"Send all the Hunters to report to the lieutenant, along with anyone else that has combat training. Then you all report to Ken. He's in charge of making SP-2 happen."

She motioned to the man at her side as she spoke, then headed over to one of the nearby security consoles, getting the attention of one of the personnel seated nearby.

"Can you get a map of the building up on one of these screens?"

It took a few seconds, but the man did as desired. Of course, with how many floors were in the building, it took up most of the screens in his corner to show them all. Hikari called the lieutenant over to her side then. Time to put the security personnel to work.

"We won't have time to evacuate everyone, and Myotismon is definitely going to send _something_ to attack this building once he knows about SP-2. Even if it isn't his main force, we need a way to defend this place. Start coming up with a plan."

The trio spent the next few minutes looking over each of the screens, working out various potential plans, though with the size of the building and their current resources, their choices were limited...

"We could barricade the windows and doors and try to set up a defensible position, but we could only get one, maybe two floors. We'd have to gather all the building staff into a fairly small area, which would be a bad idea."

The lieutenant was better than Hikari in some ways as he had a strictly military mind. He wasn't accustomed to having the advantages the Digidestined possessed, so he worked out straightforward, practical solutions where Hikari might aim for something a bit larger than their resources could cover.

"Myotismon wouldn't hit the barricaded floors anyway. He'd attack from the air. Break into one of the upper floors first, then come down the stairs... or just punch a hole in the floor."

There was more to be said, but Gatomon dare not say it openly. The simple reality was that they had no way to hold their position. Not in a building like this. They needed a lot more men and weapons, or pending that, one of the Digidestined on their side. But they would be busy holding the HQ, if their plan went as expected, so they couldn't divert their attention here until after they fought off the bulk of the enemy army. By then it would be too late...

"What if we barricade the lower floors, hide the people in the basement, and set up all our men on the upper floors near the windows? Have them shoot at any enemies in the air to draw their attention away..."

"It could work, but we'd lose a lot of men in the process, unless Myotismon sends his worst troops."

Hikari sighed, turning away. And this was under ideal circumstances... assuming that the enemy didn't catch them off guard with some unexpected attack or anticipate their plan in advance, which... given who was acting as Myotismon's planner and strategist, was extremely likely.

Think, Hikari, think... you have to do _something_, even if your plan isn't perfect. What's the best option you have now?

"We have to barricade the lower floors, right? There's no point in barricading the upper windows if they can easily get in on the ground level."

The lieutenant thought for a moment, then nodded. Probably wouldn't make a huge difference in the end, but it would make even less of a difference on the upper floors...

"Then get everyone to work. Cover the windows and doors – barricade everything you can. And let me know if you come up with any good plans. I'll be upstairs, near the roof."

Gatomon hopped off the console and quickly climbed up to Hikari's shoulder again as she exited the room. She was putting on a good face, but her partner could sense her frustration. She was much the same way... she could hide it all from the outside world, and she had to in order to save face in Myotismon's army, but she nevertheless continued to worry... and when she worried the most, she did one of two things. If she had someone trustworthy around, she spoke to them about the matter. Usually that ended up being Wizardmon... and if it was something she felt she couldn't trust him with – which was fairly common before she remembered their past friendship – she would go off alone and simply think.

In this case, Hikari could do both. She had her trustworthy partner at her side and she could get away from everyone else, though the feline knew that was still not what she would have preferred...

"...I wish I didn't have to deal with all of this."

Hikari muttered as she approached one of the doors leading out to the roof, pulling up the hood of her coat to hide her face as she did so. She wasn't going to risk stepping outside. Too much danger of being seen by spies, and doubly so for Gatomon. Still, she could at least be _close_ to the outside. Seeing the open sky made her feel a little less trapped. Being so high up also helped a bit, but all that freedom of thought did nothing to actually resolve her present problems.

"You wish you had Katsu here with you."

Hikari's eyes jumped quickly to where Gatomon lay crouched in the shadows, out of view of those outside. She opened her mouth to refute that statement, but her partner caught her before she had a chance.

"You don't have to worry. It doesn't bother me... I may have inside knowledge on Myotismon's army, but I'm not the genius Katsu is. You wish he was here to tell us what to do. I don't blame you... I do too."

Hikari sighed heavily, turning around and leaning back against the wall beside her. Fighting a battle was one thing... everyone she knew was skilled at what they did. They had geniuses of all sorts, trained strategists and soldiers, and countless more enthusiastic and skilled civilians helping them. Whatever job they needed done, they had somebody who could do it, and do it well.

The hard part was figuring out _what_ to do. Hikari couldn't depend on her friends and comrades for that – they depended more on _her_ most of the time. In some cases, their options were extremely limited... like SP-2, for example. It was the only way to get orders out to all the Hunters in the city now. No way around it, they had to initiate it to advance their operation against Myotismon. But then they had to deal with the reprisal... and that's when things got insanely complicated. With the sheer number of variables to consider, it was all but impossible to figure out what course to take next.

The station, the harbor, the HQ, the Hunters, the Digidestined, the civilians, Ken, Hikari... and that was just on their side. Myotismon had plenty of targets, and enough troops that he could go after more than one at a time; and to top it all off, he had Katsu, who was likely planning ahead for their every action even as they prepared their operation to retake the city. With the Digidestined on their side, they were stronger, but if they couldn't bring that strength to bear where it was needed most, it was useless...

...and in order to put that strength where it was needed, Hikari would have to outsmart and out-plan Katsu.

How the _hell_ was she supposed to do that?

"I can't beat him, Gatomon."

Hikari shifted her weight, sliding down the wall so that she was sitting under the window, allowing her partner to move over to her lap without stepping out anywhere that might get her seen from the outside.

"I've tried to fill in for him... to plan like he plans, think like he thinks... and I... _think_ I've done good. But I can't beat him. He's smarter than I am. I _know_ he is. I learned how to lead from him... how am I supposed to beat the one who _taught_ me?"

Gatomon curled up in Hikari's lap much like her own pet cat used to. It was a funny comparison... this clever, well-trained, cold blooded killer sometimes thought and acted more like a grown woman than Hikari... though with everything she had gone through, that was no surprise. Even so, there were other times when she'd simply curl up in Hikari's lap and purr like a common house cat.

It was little more than a pleasant distraction, but it helped get her mind off the stress and worries of the war, so Gatomon considered it mission accomplished.

"He didn't teach you _everything_ you know. You can't learn to be a leader if you don't have the talent for it."

"Lots of people have done it before."

"But never very well. Trust me... I've seen enough digimon in Myotismon's army try. They all ended up acting like clones of me or Phantomon."

"Or DemiDevimon."

Hikari muttered idly, recalling those recordings and the things Gatomon had told her about him. He was a peculiar case, not really a leader but not really a follower... at least as far as Hikari knew. It was hard to be certain without meeting him for herself.

"No, not DemiDevimon. Nobody ever learned to copy him. He was too... weird. Nobody ever figured out the method to his madness."

Hikari let out a little 'huh' but said nothing more. Interesting fact, but not really relevant right now. This was all just distraction, sidetracking them from the more important matters at hand.

"But I'm just the same as all those people. Imitating Katsu, trying to do what he'd do..."

"But you're not the same. You trust people more, you're not as paranoid about everything, and you don't hide everything you're thinking from your friends."

"I still think like he does. I use the same methods and strategies he uses, or at least I try..."

"That's because he's _smart_. Plan ahead, be flexible, think outside the box. _All_ good leaders think like that. That's what makes them _good_. That's what all those copycats from the army _couldn't_ do."

Hikari sighed heavily, petting her friend a few times. She appreciated what she was trying to do... give the girl hope, cheer her up... but it didn't deal with the main problem. No matter what Hikari was, no matter what she could do, the problem she faced was exactly the same.

"Katsu is still better."

"Not at everything. There's one thing I _know_ he can't do better than you."

Hakari glanced down, meeting the gaze of her partner, who was staring up at her in turn. Oh? This ought to be good. Had Gatomon gleaned some gift for leadership in Hikari that she was heretofore unaware of? Her questioning gaze was all she needed to give, though the answer she'd receive was not at all what she was expecting.

"He can't think like Hikari Yagami."

Oh. Huh...

"Stop over-thinking everything. We're the Digidestined, aren't we? Humans and digimon... we're supposed to save the world, not sit in an office and plot battle lines. That's the Hunters' job."

"We still have to help them..."

"No, they have to help _us_. They don't have a chance to win this war on their own – they _never_ have! If Myotismon goes after them, they've already lost. They're supposed to be _our_ backup, not the other way around, but Myotismon has convinced us all that the Hunters are leading our side of the war, forcing the rest of us to keep guarding them! Forcing us to stay on the defensive..."

Hikari couldn't argue... that was the point of this entire counterattack, wasn't it? They needed to move to the offensive, to get Myotismon's forces on the run... but to do that, they had to take risks. That was easy for Myotismon, who was more than willing to sacrifice any and all of his minions to accomplish his goals. But for them, if their risks cost them lives... it hurt them. It hurt them in ways Myotismon had never been hurt before, because he simply didn't care about what he was losing.

But Gatomon was still right. It was a hard lesson to learn... but there would always be a price they had to pay if they wanted to win.

"So... what are you going to do, _Hikari Yagami_?"

Hikari was silent for a few moments, slowly petting her friend and simply thinking. What... that was the question, and she didn't yet know the answer. Still too many variables to consider. Too many problems left unresolved. First things first...

"I'm going to wait... we have to make sure everyone completes their missions first. If they don't, we can't send out the orders anyway."

That would also buy them time to learn more about what the enemy was planning. If Koushiro's plan worked out as expected, they'd soon have access to Myotismon's records from the Dark Network. The wait would also give them a chance to observe the response to what all the others were doing to figure out the smartest course of action. Regardless of all that, however, one thing was clear...

"...I'm not going to let anyone die. I'm going to protect as many of them as possible... no matter what I have to sacrifice to do it."

That was the one thing about Katsu that Hikari always despised, even though she understood his reasons... the people that he let die. He was willing to sacrifice anyone or anything to succeed. A lot of people died because of him... and though none of those sacrifices were meaningless, the fact that he was so willing to make them always unnerved her. If she was to follow what Gatomon was saying, that was the first thing that had to go... she would make her own sacrifices, but it wouldn't be the lives of the people in her command.

Could she make good on that personal promise? She didn't know... but at the very least, she wasn't going to plan for anyone's deaths just to gain an advantage. If people died in the fighting then that was the price of war, but no one would just be thrown away. Not while she could still protect them... and she could only hope that her sudden change in tactics distract Katsu and throw him off long enough for them to win. They only needed a few hours... they only needed Myotismon to die.

* * *

The Hunters and security personnel did their work quickly, securing the first floor in short order before moving up to the second. The barriers were flimsy at best... enough to stop a child digimon, but not much more. The people working at the station seemed ignorant of the danger, though, so that was a plus. The barricades may have been useless in combat, but if they kept people calm then it would be easier to get their work done quickly and in order.

The business with SP-2 was fairly simple as well, once the law was thrown out the window... one couldn't just transmit on whatever radio band or TV channel they wanted. They needed some kind of government approval for these sorts of things. Bypassing that would be a severe violation of broadcasting laws.

...that said, the process of actually _doing_ such a broadcast was much simpler so long as you had the proper equipment and knew what to tweak. Having a child genius working with you only expedited the process further.

Step one of the preparation involved setting up the radio towers to broadcast on all frequencies. They had emergency frequencies specifically for Hunter radios, but they couldn't be sure that all of the Hunters were still fully equipped. Some may have had to drop their gear to escape during the last fight, not to mention the possibility that Myotismon may also have taken some of the fallen soldiers' gear and would also be listening in on those frequencies. There were no secure channels anymore, so they may as well send out a general order to the entire city. If their enemy was going to know what they were up to no matter what they did, their only priority was making sure all of _their_ people were informed.

Step two involved preparing to broadcast on all TV channels as well. This was somewhat less necessary unless they wanted to send out an order to all the civilian population as well. More people watched TV at home than listened to the radio. Ken didn't know if that would be necessary, but they knew there would be some kind of reprisal by Myotismon, so it might at least come in handy.

The only matter that remained was the other children and ensuring that their personal missions were complete. For Hikari, the wait felt like an eternity. Every second that burned away without knowing what state the others were in gave her less time to plan and prepare for what was coming. Only Gatomon at her side managed to keep her calm. Before this she had imagined this would be a moment of destiny... a moment where everything came together and they finally put an end to all the killing, but actually being here in the moment felt anything but... she was terrified. They were about to walk into the most dangerous moment of the entire war, and she had no idea what to expect. The weight of the danger that loomed ahead was suffocating...

It was a great relief when Mimi finally contacted her, informing her that the HQ and Hunter Command had been dealt with. The site was secure, the enemies that encircled it were gone, and Masaharu had been made acting Director of the base. She also informed Hikari of the plan that had apparently been set up by Masaharu right under their noses. Seems the old man wasn't out of tricks yet... and since the SDZ forces under her command knew nothing of it, it meant Katsu wouldn't either.

That would be a great aid to their cause, but as with all things, the good news came with some bad. Phantomon was at the harbor, and Jou and Yamato were alone in fighting him. If they couldn't handle him, this would be a huge problem for their overall plan, to say nothing of what might happen to the children and their partners personally.

Unfortunately, the problems didn't end there. The equipment in that harbor was absolutely vital to their counteroffensive. Even if the children fought off Phantomon, if he reported what was stored there to his master and a second force was sent to attack, they would likely lose much of their stockpile, which would leave the Hunters crippled and place the full weight of the danger on the children and their digimon.

So it all came down to this... a single call from one of the children. The next bit of news she received would determine the outcome of this entire battle. When finally the word came, Hikari felt as if her heart was about to stop...

"Hikari, this is Jou."

Gatomon jumped off Hikari's shoulder as she jerked suddenly to grab her digivice. Fortunately they were alone on one of the upper floors of the building, else her troops and allies might be a little... disconcerted to see her reacting in such a way.

"Jou! What happened at the harbor?!"

On the other end, Jou was caught a little off-guard. For all their talk that Hikari was becoming like Katsu, she reacted to his voice like a scared child, almost in a panic. Whether it was the fear of them failing their mission or being hurt personally he couldn't know, but either way it was far from the way the other boy seemed to think and behave.

"We won. Phantomon is dead. We're on our way to the HQ as we speak."

Hikari let out an enormous sigh of relief, practically collapsing against the wall. Dead... she hadn't dared hope she might hear those words. It meant their mission was safe, and now soon... soon...

They were moving toward victory. At long last, things were _finally_ starting to turn their way.

"What's the state of the harbor?"

That was clearly a professional question, lacking any real emotion behind it. While technically important, it didn't mean as much to her as the simple news that they were safe and one of their greatest enemies was dead.

"Some of the trucks were damaged, but the warehouses are safe. A few injuries and... one casualty."

It didn't take a genius to spot the shift in Jou's tone. He was usually calm and collected even in the worst of times, but in that moment there was no hiding the pain in his voice. A casualty... someone at the harbor? She almost imagined it was Yamato, but she knew if that was the case then he would have told them immediately, so...

"...who?"

"...my father."

Oh... damn...

There was a long pause then. Hikari didn't know what to say. There was nothing she _could_ say about his father. No way to comfort him... trying to make some empty speech about how they need to win for his father's sake just felt incredibly stupid, and trying to change the subject was even more so. Questions about tactics and strategy just seemed irrelevant in light of this news.

Finally, it would be Jou who broke the silence, turning his attention back to the main reason he called.

"Hikari... Phantomon was exactly what Wizardmon said. When we beat him... he managed to break free of Myotismon's control for a few seconds before he died."

Hikari jumped on the change of topic, even she didn't understand it. Though it was worth noting that he was just another puppet, what did that mean for them?

"And? What happened?"

"He said there was a prophecy... Myotismon found something that predicted his death at your hands."

Hikari glanced to Gatomon questioningly, but the digimon merely shook her head. She knew nothing of any prophecies. If it was true, then he must have been extremely paranoid if he was keeping it from most of his inner circle...

"He only told Phantomon. He said he was originally supposed to be an assassin, sent to kill you once Myotismon found you. Hikari... _you're_ Myotismon's real target. You've _always_ been. He went after the rest of us because we're your friends, but you're the only one he actually cares about killing."

For a moment Hikari felt the weight of the war pressing down on her mind again. His target... once her location was found, he'd send everything he had at her... she'd be utterly surrounded, unable to-

Wait... he would send... _everything_ he had at her.

Gatomon knew that look. A plan was brewing in the girl's mind. Now she had something... something truly powerful to use against Myotismon. Knowledge that they were never supposed to know, and that it would be assumed they _wouldn't_ know. She could finally get one up on her enemy... she finally had an edge that would let her out-plan Myotismon.

"We can use that."

"No- Hikari, listen... Myotismon is _wrong_. The prophecy isn't about you at _all_!"

Hikari suddenly stopped, the gears in her head grinding to a halt. What? But he'd just said...

"Phantomon told me part of the prophecy just before he died. _At the peak atop the ruins of the old world, the undying shadow will be struck down by the angel of light._ Myotismon thinks that the angel of light is _you_. You or Gatomon..."

"Light... the crest of light."

It was a pretty direct analogy. Myotismon was basically a vampire... undead. The undying shadow. Hikari was light. Gatomon, the angel... and the ruins were their city. Though the reference to the old world didn't make much literal sense, metaphorically someone could throw together an explanation to make it fit. However... there was a problem that both of them spotted immediately.

"He doesn't know about Takeru."

"Or Angemon, Devimon, or Infinity Mountain. Everything that prophecy was talking about _already happened._"

Which means it was pointless to place any hope in the prophecy to save them... even if they met and fought the way it described, it gave no assurance that they would actually win.

"...we can still use it."

"Hikari-"

"Jou, he believes this prophecy is true, right? He's going to do everything he can to avert it. We can take advantage of that. All we have to do is set him up..."

Jou was quiet for a few moments. His instincts told him that Hikari was about to do something stupid, but he wouldn't argue with her. Unfortunately, she was right... that prophecy was the only means they had to manipulate Myotismon, so it was stupid to not take full advantage of it. The problem arose if they overstepped the limits of what they could handle, or if Myotismon reacted erratically, in ways they couldn't predict.

"Alright... I'll let you take care of this, then. But, Hikari... don't forget, you _don't have a crest yet._ Don't do anything stupid and get yourself killed. We- we're too close to the end... and we've lost enough already."

Hikari was about to give him some reassurance when something occurred to her. He was worried about what she might attempt... but he was smart. Didn't he see this sort of thing coming?

"Jou... you knew I would try to take advantage of this prophecy before you even called, didn't you?"

Silence. He didn't like the idea of placing her in danger, and the way she said it, it made it sound like he was doing just that, and on purpose to less... but truth was truth. He couldn't deny it.

"...yes. I felt you needed to know, one way or the other."

"Thank you. It means a lot that you trusted me anyway... and I promise I'll do everything I can to keep myself safe as we win this war."

"...alright. Thank you."

The communication was cut off shortly thereafter and Hikari quickly found herself back into position on the floor, back to the wall, with Gatomon in her lap, both contemplating their options for a few minutes before they started conversing again.

"I can't beat Katsu... but I _can_ beat Myotismon."

Gatomon glanced up, having spent that time thinking over the strategic picture of the city, and the details of where and how Myotismon might have imagined this prophesied battle would take place.

"Myotismon has final say in everything, and unlike the Hunters, there's no one in his army that would obey Katsu if he gave conflicting orders. If I can get under Myotismon's skin so that he ignores Katsu's advice..."

Their biggest obstacle could be removed, just like that. They just had to make sure that hook for Myotismon also set him up in a way that forced him into a situation that was ideal for the children.

"...this building is the tallest one in this area. A 'peak.'"

The feline muttered, earning a questioning glance in return. The peak above the ruins... they were already here. If they led Myotismon to believe that this was the place where he would meet them and die...

"Myotismon won't come here if he thinks we'll kill him."

"But he _will_ send an army."

"Out of desperation. He won't do anything halfway... he'll surround us and hit us with everything he has."

The entirety of Myotismon's army, drawn to a single location... incredibly dangerous for both parties. With a singular target in mind, they could be caught off-guard by an ambush. But not from the inside. No... turning the TV station into a fortress was impossible with what little time they had. They had to do this the other way... Myotismon sends an army to surround her, and then she calls in an army to surround _them_.

"It's suicide. We'll have no way to get out... and he'll kill us both."

Despite her words, Gatmon's voice carried no doubt or hesitation. She was merely stating facts, not trying to persuade Hikari away from the idea. Like it or not, she understood the reality of their situation... as well as the reality of her partner. Hikari would lay her life down for this war, if that's what it took. Her sacrifices were solely personal. No one else would die for her, but she would absolutely die for them in a heartbeat.

"Gatomon... I know you want to protect me. I don't want to do anything to hurt you or anyone else... but-"

The feline stopped her, shaking her head vehemently to dismiss whatever Hikari was thinking right then.

"No. You don't need to explain anything to me. I understand... we're going to win this war. We have to. I know better than anyone... Myotismon has to die. But the others can't kill him if he has an army at his back. They have to be destroyed first."

So Gatomon was all in, just like she was... so be it. Then it was just a matter of planning their exact course and initiating it. They had to think fast, though. They had only a little time to do that while Jou and Yamato led the convoy to the HQ to unload their supplies for the forces that would soon be joining them. As soon as they were prepared, the emergency order would be sent and everything would be set into motion.

* * *

The call soon came from Taichi and Koushiro. Etemon and Datamon were both dead, killed in the collapse of Myotismon's castle, either by being crushed by the falling walls or by falling into oblivion as the pocket dimension that sustained it faded from existence. Everyone was present for that call, so everyone knew... their old ties were finally cut. The second invasion had now truly come to an end, and this was all that was left.

The convoy reached the HQ and had nearly been unloaded already. As they prepared to head back to the harbor, several Hunter teams, armed with the new weapons in hand and on their vehicles, organized to protect them, leaving the Digidestined to pursue their own missions.

So it was time. Myotismon had already abandoned his rift in the human world, so he was likely on the move. They couldn't wait any longer. It was time to send out a call to bring everyone flocking to the Hunter headquarters, both friend and enemy alike...

"_Attention, this is an emergency Hunter order, priority one, all forces. Hunter Command HQ has been reclaimed and the surrounding enemy force removed. All forces are to report to base immediately to re-arm and fortify against enemy attack. All Rogues are current on-site and providing their assistance, but backup will be required to hold our position. I say again, **all** forces, active and passive, are ordered **immediately** to Hunter HQ to re-arm and fortify the position. Additionally, all Hunters stay on emergency frequencies and await additional orders."_

Hikari stood listening to the first transmission from the station as it began to loop on all frequencies throughout the city. Alright, now for the hard part. The biggest risk of their plan was timing... they needed to burn as much time as possible to allow all the Hunters in the city to get to the base and start arming themselves with the new weapons, but wait too long and the headquarters would be surrounded by enemies, preventing any more of their men from getting in.

First things first, though. They needed to make sure everyone was on the same page, especially their Hunter allies. The Digidestined could change their plan to adapt on the fly. With only six people, that was fairly easy to do. An army of hundreds or thousands was not so simple...

Hikari called Mimi and had her find Masaharu so she could talk to him. She considered asking Jou since he already knew about the prophecy, but he would have been less accepting of Hikari's plan. She knew Mimi would understand, though... it was a hard choice, but she was making it for everyone's sakes.

"Hikari, good to hear from you again... looks like we're finally back on track, thank to you kids."

"We're not there yet... we still need to buy time to arm all the Hunters coming in from around the city. If the enemy army surrounds you, they'll be cut off."

"Then I assume you have a plan?"

Hikari glanced briefly to Gatomon, searching for that final look of confirmation. This was it... once they informed Masaharu, there was no going back. They would have to follow through on their plan or their entire force would be caught off guard and destroyed.

"Yes... but before that, I need to explain something..."

Hikari quickly filled Mimi and Masharu in on all the details that Jou had given them regarding the prophecy and Myotismon's goals. Certain facts could be extrapolated easily enough by Masaharu, but Hikari filled him in on some of Gatomon's and her own insights as well. Unsurprisingly, he wasn't entirely thrilled with the idea of using Hikari as bait, but he remained as open to the idea as possible.

"You understand there's countless ways this trap could go wrong. We could lose both you and Gatomon if we screw up."

"Don't worry about that. You just need to make sure your army is where it needs to be."

"So what are the details of this plan?"

"Right now we're biding time, but once Myotismon's forces reach the HQ they'll make it harder for outside troops to come in. So soon as that attack starts I'm going to send out an announcement on all TV channels. Something big and theatrical... I want to make sure I get his attention."

"He'll divert all his forces to the station to attack you..."

"The Digidestined will head here first to intercept the enemy and distract them while you deploy all the Hunter teams to back them up. Make sure the teams are large. At least several dozen men in each group, with the new weapons. The Digidestined will get to the station first. Myotismon's army will surround them, then _you'll_ surround Myotismon. They'll be trapped between six of the most powerful perfects on the inside and a wall of fire on the outside. No way out."

"What about the station itself? The other kids will have cover with their partners protecting them, but with you alone, if even one enemy slips by..."

"I could die. I know... and I'm prepared for that."

Silence. Those were _not_ the words Masaharu wanted to hear. Bravery and clever plans he was accustomed to, but he wasn't prepared to sacrifice any of the children for this, _especially_ not Hikari.

"Hikari-"

"Don't. Masaharu, you _know_ how much we need this. We have a chance to cripple Myotismon's army. He's trapped in this world. Phantomon's already dead... we beat him here and he has _nothing_ left to fight with. After this, it'll only be a matter of time. He can't escape the Digidestined forever."

"You're Digidestined too, Hikari."

"I know... but I'm a Digidestined without a crest. I can't fight like the others can. This is the best I can do... and you _know_ this is the best choice, like it or not. If we pull it off..."

"...we win the war. I know, but... _damn_ it... Hikari, whatever happens out there, you keep yourself safe. If you have to be the bait, fine, but do _not_ do anything reckless and get yourself killed! Stay away from any fighting and don't try to be a hero. And Gatomon, you make sure to protect her if anything goes wrong. I'm not burying another child for this damn war..."

"I understand. Don't worry, I won't make it easy for Myotismon... after everything we've gone through, we're going to be there to see him die."

"Alright... then I'll inform my commanders of the plan. Good luck, girl..."

"Good luck... Director."

Hikari grinned slightly at herself, waiting a moment for Masaharu to move on before she continued again, this time addressing her fellow Digidestined.

"Mimi, the others need to know about this too. I'll contact my brother and Koushiro. Can you-"

"I'll take care of it. And I'll do what I can to get them to see your side. I'm sure they won't like this..."

"Neither do I, but if it's a choice between this or letting this war go on for one more day..."

"Yeah... I know exactly what you mean. Stay safe, Hikari."

The two quickly bid their farewells and Hikari stood from her crouched position by the window, hood up, heading down the stairs to get to the broadcasting room.

"That was a lie at the end, and you know it..."

Hikari was silent, though her partner knew she was hearing the words just fine. It wasn't just for the sake of others that she kept herself safe... she wasn't so selfless that she thought nothing of her own life. Though she put the lives of others first whenever possible, she feared death as much as any other woman, and she wasn't even a proper woman yet. She was still just a child...

"There's still too many enemies for the others to kill before they break through. We're going to die here."

"...I know."

"Are you scared?"

"Are _you_?"

Gatomon shook her head almost casually, which was just about the last response Hikari expected from her. She knew the feline would probably handle this more bravely than she did... she was used to facing danger that could kill her on a regular basis. The chance for death had always been there... but to feel no fear at all?

"I'm ready for whatever happens. At this point, no death from Myotismon could be worse than the life I've already had... I do have a regret, though. I regret that we won't be there to watch that bastard die. After everything he did to me and hundreds, maybe even thousands of others... I just want to see his face when he realizes he's been beat."

Hikari stepped out of the stairwell into the broadcasting station, immediately picking up two guards that were standing by at the door, waiting for her arrival. As she continued walking a few others spotted her, and soon she was being surrounded by a guard team of at least half a dozen soldiers, all determined to protect her with their lives.

"Who knows, maybe you still will. He's after me more than you... maybe you'll live through this and get to see his dying face at the end."

Hikari called the lieutenant to her as she moved to a side office, away from civilian ears. She quickly filled him in on all the details of the plan, making sure he was aware of just what level of trouble he would be facing. To mitigate the trouble, Hikari made sure his orders were very simple... protect the civilians, especially Ken. Evacuate, hide in a bunker... whatever it took, just keep them safe. Once the fighting started, his duty to her was finished. Posting guards at her side was a suicide mission for anyone who took it, and she wouldn't have that. They'd made enough sacrifices already. There was only one left to make, and that was Hikari herself. After her... everybody lives. No more dying.

Afterward, she returned to the main broadcasting room, double-checking with everyone to make sure they were ready to go. All lights were green. They could start at any time. All they needed was a signal from their leader, and all _she_ needed was a word from someone at the front line...

Finally, after what felt like forever, the word came through a sudden transmission from Sora, evidently out flying from the heavy sound of wind coming through along with her voice.

"Hikari! The first wave just hit the HQ!"

"How many?"

"Maybe half a dozen! We took them out, but more are on the way! Garudamon and I just scouted around and we spotted over a dozen more, maybe half of them perfects! After them... _everything_! It's just a swarm out there – on the ground, in the sky... his whole army is coming at us, all at once!"

"How long until they get there?"

"Maybe five minutes, tops, but they're moving fast! Could be as soon as two or three!"

"Alright, I'm about to broadcast. Get back and let everyone know."

"Roger!"

As soon as Sora's voice cut out, Hikari switched over and linked to her brother, who was also in the air, albeit a bit further out.

"Brother, where are you?"

"Heading toward the HQ! We spotted Myotismon's army out here, we're gonna try to get behind them unnoticed, then-"

"Negative! Ignore them and head to the TV station, _both_ of you!"

"The sta- Hikari, what's going on?!"

"Change of plans, Tai. Just get here as fast as you can and get ready for a fight."

Hikari cut off the link without another word. She felt a little bad for leaving him out of the loop like this... but out of everyone, she knew he was the one who would _never_ accept the plan if she told him in advance. Besides... he was Taichi. Throwing him right into the middle of a chaotic situation seemed to bring out the best in him.

Was that just a way to excuse her own misdeeds? Probably... but she knew he could handle it, and he'd pull through in the end... for her, and for everyone.

The confusion and fear on everyone's faces was clear, but Hikari remained firm. They didn't know what was going on... and they didn't need to. The fewer people knew, the better. Then there was less guilt to go around later, when word came that Hikari, one of the rogue children, had been killed in the fighting.

"As soon as this broadcast is over, _everyone_ get down to the basement and into the secure bunker. Am I clear?!"

The sharp nods from around the room made it clear they understood the weight of this situation. They'd expected to be part of the resistance, broadcasting orders to help the Hunters all over the city and nothing more. The thought that the fighting was coming to their doorstep was terrifying, and an order to retreat was more than welcome.

Hikari gave the signal and the team went to work. The first looping transmission was cut and the audio from the studio was switched over to the radio as well, so now everyone in the city that was watching or listening anything, anywhere would see and hear only her. Hikari moved herself to the center of the camera's view, taking a deep breath as the coordinator motioned the countdown to her.

Three...

Two...

One.

"Attention, all people of Odaiba, both civilian and military: I am Hikari Yagami, Rogue Seven..."

She began, making certain to plaster her name all across the city right from moment one to make sure she caught Myotismon's attention, no matter where he was. Here I am, you mass-murdering abomination. Come and get me...


	20. The Seventh Child

A/N: Wooooooooooooooowww... okay, this chapter was a _monster_ to write. Add to that the fact that I was busy for pretty much ten days straight with no time to write, I'm amazed that I got it done as soon as I did. But here it is... the moment you've all been waiting for. And even if it isn't, it's the moment _I've_ been waiting for since this story started, so I'm happy with it either way. The grand finale... read and enjoy!

(Also, additional notes will be posted at the end of this chapter regarding the future entries into this series, so check those to find out what's going on.)

Chapter 20: The Seventh Child

**Patience is power. Patience is not an absence of action, rather it is timing. It waits on the right time to act, for the right principles and in the right way.**

"Attention, all people of Odaiba, both civilian and military: I am Hikari Yagami, Rogue Seven, and leader of Hunter Special Division Zero. As of right now, all of Odaiba is officially under alert level one – mandatory, city-wide lock down. All unarmed personnel are to return to their homes or the nearest secure location and wait. If you are in the proximity of any fighting, withdraw immediately. All streets are to remain completely clear for military personnel until further notice. Ladies and gentlemen... we are reclaiming our city. Please keep the way clear for us."

There. Big, brash, and brazen. Surely _that_ would be theatrical enough to catch Myotismon's attention, and just in case it wasn't, she made certain to step off-screen before she was cued. It's all about the details... if it were a prerecorded message they could have edited out that awkward moment, but the fact that they didn't would hopefully hint to the fact that it was live, if Myotismon didn't already know.

Once the signal was cut, the civilians in the room were up and moving immediately. They didn't even bother turning off most of the equipment before they went. They were all too rushed to get down to the secure area on the ground floor. Hikari's guards cleared a way for her through the crowd to the stairwell, intent to follow her all the way to her destination, but she had already determined that wasn't going to happen. As soon as the door was opened, she signaled for the guards to stop there.

"Not this time. Go with the civilians. The lieutenant will give you your orders from here on."

"Ma'am-"

"_No_. This isn't your fight anymore. You just keep those people safe. Myotismon is the responsibility of the Digidestined now."

Both the guards and the civilians that surrounded them were quiet. They all had a sense of what was coming. She was going alone to what was likely to be her death while they were all sent to safety... the full realization of what they were watching hadn't yet had time to fully sink it, but it was clear enough that they remained silent out of respect. They were watching a child run off to her death for the sake of all their lives...

Hood up again, Hikari turned and rushed up the stairwell as fast as she could. Destination, the peak. Behind her, the sound of civilians and soldiers rushing in the opposite direction echoed up toward her, reinforcing her otherwise shaky will. This was for them... hundreds and thousands of people just like them. She couldn't waver now.

When she emerged from the stairwell she stopped, stripping off her hoodie and pulling her hair out of its ponytail. Then Gatomon was hopping up onto her shoulder, taking hold as Hikari moved toward one of the doors leading out to the balcony and threw it open, stepping out to the open air.

That moment of destiny Hikari had been expecting to feel before suddenly hit her then as she looked off into the horizon and saw... everything. The same everything that Sora had described. Hikari couldn't even try to count the number of enemies that were swarming in the sky, to say nothing of those on the ground, most of which were concealed by the buildings that stood in her way.

That was it. The end. Their final target. She could see in that mass of ravenous digimon that swarmed toward her the end of the war. Their final obstacle. The Digidestined were already on their way to her side, and the Hunters wouldn't be far behind...

"It's done."

Hikari muttered, feeling herself finally hit that insurmountable wall that she had been moving inevitably toward. There was nothing left for her to do except survive. She had no way to fight, so it was all in the hands of the other children and their Hunter support now. In a way it was comforting... knowing her duty was finished and that she had no great tasks left to fulfill. Now... they would win. Somehow, she knew it would happen. Her friends and family would make sure of that. As for her... she had only until that army reached her, and then her time was up.

That was the plan, anyway...

But destiny, it seemed, had other plans.

Hikari quickly noticed something wrong in the distance. The airborne enemies were shifting about chaotically, as if they were... avoiding something. What was-

Oh my god... he... no, they _didn't_...

But they _did_. She knew the moment she caught a glimpse of that massive beetle flying through the swarm at full speed, ramming through everything in sight, slowing them down and generally giving them hell. Then several explosions followed, after which she promptly caught a glint of something else in her vision. Shiny... metal. And it was heading straight toward her.

MetalGreymon. Taichi and Koushiro had... they had actually charged into the army and attacked _by themselves_. Were they _INSANE_? And now Taichi was flying toward the station as fast as possible, only barely outrunning the army behind him as Koushiro continued harassing them from behind.

The army didn't stop, though. If anything they sped up, determined now not only to reach her but also to escape MegaKabuterimon and catch up to MetalGreymon. Yet as they drew closer, she spotted another figure suddenly joining the fray. Garudamon... _she_ was attacking, too? What the hell were they _doing_? This wasn't part of the plan!

Hikari knew instinctively that the others were there as well, even though she couldn't see them. The Digidestined wouldn't split up at a time like this, especially if they were going to keep the two fastest digimon on hand to fight. The others were there... WereGarurumon and Zudomon on the ground, concealed from her sight by buildings, and Lillymon somewhere amongst the swarm, too small to see from this distance...

Together, they slowed the enemy army enough to give Taichi a strong lead, allowing him to reach the station well before the enemies did.

"You're not dying _today_, Hikari!"

The girl heard her brother shout as the boy came within earshot, only a moment later landing with his partner up on the balcony near her. As for Hikari, she was stunned. She expected an organized defense, not this... chaos that they had just thrown themselves into.

"...how did you know?"

Taichi hopped down off his partner's back. Not looking half as angry as she had expected. If anything, he looked... charged. Pumped. This was all actually making him feel _energized_ somehow.

"Because it's stupid, reckless, and suicidal... and you're a Yagami. Of _course_ it was your plan."

The surreal moment only got more so as Taichi grinned. He had learned that his sister was throwing herself into the fire, willingly sacrificing her life for victory, and he was... happy?

"Ready to do something else stupid?"

A thousand questions were swimming in Hikari's head, but she spoke none of them. Whatever had gotten into her brother, it was something she welcomed. They didn't need hesitation or conflict among their friends now. If he was ready to join in her insane plan, all the better.

So she simply nodded, and a moment later Taichi was mounting his partner's back again, reaching down to offer her a hand to help her up as well. Once she and Gatomon were up, MetalGreymon promptly took off back toward the enemy swarm at full speed.

As expected, the enemies saw him coming, and with his sister sitting right there beside him, they spotted her immediately as well. Hikari knew the instant it happened from the sound that followed. One digimon spotting her was all it took. The roar it unleashed caught the attention of all the others, and they all turned to spot her in turn.

The howl that rose up from the swarm was deafening, but it was just what they needed. A moment of distraction, followed by all eyes on her. Her, Taichi, and his partner... one perfect level digimon. Which left five others going unnoticed.

MetalGreymon pulled a sharp turn away from the army as their eyes turned on him. Distraction time. Go to work, everyone.

What followed was beautiful and horrifying. All the children working in perfect unison, following Taichi's lead as MetalGreymon dove down between the buildings to lead the enemies on a chase in close quarters, making them easy targets. Every reckless move that Taichi made was followed up by one of the other children, taking advantage of whatever opening he gave them.

Lead part of the swarm down a narrow street, then dodge at the last instant as MegaKabuterimon comes flying right at him, hitting the swarm like an aerial bulldozer. Turn down another road as the enemies gather to block and trap him in, only to have Garudamon unleash a twister of fire that incinerated much of that group and sent the rest scattering. And all the while WereGarurumon, Zudomon, and Lillymon moved through the swarm on the ground, tearing apart everything in their path.

Children should not be able to cause such merciless destruction. Hikari knew that much... they'd had their moments of desperation, doing what was necessary to save themselves and the people they cared for, but this was different. They were luring the enemies into a trap and simply slaughtering them. They were under attack, yes, but it was clear the battle was completely one-sided. In those few, fleeting moments, the enemies were completely unprepared for what the Digidestined brought against them, and they took full advantage of that fact to cause as much death as possible.

Of course, that spectacle of artistic teamwork didn't last long. After a few good swaths of destruction, the enemies withdrew and regrouped. They reformed their lines in a hard circle, with the strongest digimon on the outside, shielding those on the inside while the weaker ones unleashed a wall of fire toward the Digidestined and their partners through the holes in the line.

"Retreat! Pull back to the station!"

Taichi shouted into his digivice and the children scattered and withdrew, with the fliers and faster digimon scooping up the slower ones to rush them toward the station where they would hold the line. On the way, Taichi got talking to Koushiro, who was busy checking all the DG sensors in the city that were still functional to get some reading of the enemies pursuing them.

"How'd we do?"

"Not good enough. We made a big dent in numbers, but most of the casualties were low-level. It's still gonna be a hard fight once we get to the station."

"That doesn't count wounded. We probably did some damage to their stronger forces. They'll be easier to pick off now."

Yamato cut in, giving them a bit of optimistic news about their situation, although Hikari knew as well as Taichi did that it wasn't as much of a benefit as they might have hoped for.

"Only if we strike first. We've still gotta keep Hikari safe while we do that..."

Keep her safe... no. That's not part of the plan, brother. I knew what I was getting myself into here, and you're not going to waste time protecting me that would be better spent out fighting the enemies.

"Let me off at the balcony!"

The others overheard her through Taichi's digivice, though nobody knew exactly what she had planned, and she wasn't about to explain it. Once she was down on the building again, she rushed through the door, slamming and locking it behind her so that nobody could follow her in without busting a hole in the wall. A moment later a voice came through her digivice.

"Hikari, where are you _going_?"

"In! Hiding! They know I'm here, but they don't know where. It'll distract them a bit."

"Until they decided to knock the whole building down!"

Jou shouted back, and Hikari smirked in response. Well, that's what you get for following a lunatic...

"And it's your job to make sure that doesn't happen... better get to work!"

Hikari knew she was backing her friends into a corner... she was giving them no choice except to stand and fight in the worst possible scenario. If even one enemy got past, it could be her death. That would make them desperate, and doubtful they'd appreciate it, but it would also force them to bring out their best.

All she really needed was for them to keep the most powerful enemies at bay. The weaker ones couldn't demolish such a massive structure, at least not easily. That delay would give them the time they needed for the Hunters to catch up, and that was all they needed. Even if she died, she'd take Myotismon's entire army with her.

Hikari headed to the stairwell, grabbing her hoodie along the way, pulling it up to hide her face again as she went down a couple flights of stairs. Stepping out of the stairwell, she glanced around a moment. Office space. Closed rooms, narrow halls... good. Hard to escape from, granted, but they wouldn't be able to spot her easily, either. If anyone came into the building in search of her, they'd have to play a little hide-and-seek before they caught her.

The sounds of fighting outside picked up as Hikari started checking each room, trying to find the most secure one to hide in. Unfortunately, they all looked equally indefensible... and hiding in a room with only one exit and no means of knocking a wall down was generally a bad idea. Maybe there was a better location down at the end of the ha-

The sound of a window exploding in ahead of her stopped her in her tracks. It was possible that was simply a result of the fighting outside, but then, it was equally possible it wasn't. Hikari doubled back immediately toward the stairwell, rushing down to the next floor as Gatomon confirmed her fears.

"We're being followed."

Good instincts, Hikari. Keep it up and you might survive until the building comes down...

Unfortunately, the enemies had good instincts, too. When she opened the stairwell door on the next floor, she was greeted by a winged digimon that looked something like the bastard child of a frog and a pterodactyl. Okay, not that one... promptly slamming the door in its face, she continued down the stairs to the next floor. No enemies this time. Good.

Gatomon hopping off her shoulder back into the stairwell as she stepped out, not so good.

"Gatomon, what are y-"

The feline slammed the door behind her with strength that seemed unnatural for such a small creature. But she _was_ an adult digimon, regardless of her size. Looks weren't everything...

Hikari knew instinctively what her partner was doing... protecting her, as always, and keeping those enemies on her tail from catching up. Unfortunately, that left her without any defenses if she encountered any enemies on _this_ floor...

...a fear proven to be well-founded from the sound of an imploding window down the hall.

Instinctively, Hikari turned into the nearest room she could find and locked the door behind her. Fortunately, her luck held through. This floor wasn't office space. Instead she was standing in a large room full of desks and computers. More room to move, plus more objects to use as potential weapons. Some better than others...

Hikari quickly ran to a nearby computer monitor and began unplugging it. Not any of the new flat-screen stuff. This was an older, heavier model, but more importantly, it was _big_, which would benefit her. Granted, it was awkward to carry it back to the door, but it would all be worth it a few seconds later when the large dog-like creature burst through and she smashed the monitor screen on its head. It was large enough that it ended up getting the digimon's head lodged and stuck inside it, impeding its ability to see her.

The digimon thrashed about for a few seconds, shouting what sounded like profanities before he ran ahead a few feet to hit its head on the first thing it could find, intent on breaking the monitor off. While it was distracted with that, Hikari ran back out the door.

One enemy escaped, and with no partner to help her. Most likely even some of the long-time fighters in the Digidestined couldn't make that claim.

Even so, she knew that wouldn't last long, and she wasn't going to head toward the broken windows where she might be easily spotted. She had to go back to the stairwell again to find Gatomon and get to somewhere safer, though she rapidly suspected such locations were already becoming extremely rare on all floors. What were the odds that they just happened to catch her just as she was rushing into each floor? No... they were invading every floor of this building, starting from the top and working their way down. There were probably already enemies below, waiting for her.

Hikari briefly pondered how that dog-like digimon could have gotten into this floor without being able to fly, but that was quickly dismissed as the stairwell door burst open to reveal a large, black-skinned... thing. Some kind of demon or... you know what? She didn't really care. Regardless, she was running the hell away!

Unfortunately, she turned back to see another digimon, a winged serpent of some kind, coming at her from the direction of the windows. Crap!

Not quite ready to die _just_ yet, Hikari made one final attempt to escape, throwing open the door to the room opposite the computer room with the dog as the enemies rushed at her from both sides. The demon-thing got to her first, just as she was slamming the door in its face. It managed to get its neck lodged in the doorway before she could close it completely, and unfortunately it was strong enough that she wasn't able to hold it for more than a couple seconds before she was knocked back and the door was thrown open.

Then just as she thought she had reached her end, the serpent swooped in and seized the monster by the throat, shoving it back to pin it against the nearby wall.

...the hell?

The demon-thing appeared as shocked as Hikari was by this surprising turn of events... but she wasn't one to count her blessings. She was saved, and now wasn't the time to gawk. She had to get _out_!

This time the way to the stairwell was clear, which was good because the dog emerged from the door behind her, now extremely pissed at her on top of just being angry in general. Even with all her strength, her legs couldn't carry her faster than that beast, so it had caught up to her by the time she reached the stairwell. Fortunately, she was saved by another surprising intervention.

"Down!"

Gatomon's voice, though the feline was nowhere in sight... still, she didn't question it. Hikari threw herself down flat against the ground immediately as the dog leaped at her, only to be caught in mid air by... nothing, apparently. It was knocked and pinned down a moment before a grim slash mark appeared across its throat, ending its life instantly. A moment later, the air in front of it warped slightly as Gatmon seemingly shimmered into existence there.

Invisibility... Hikari knew there was only one way her partner could have done that.

"Magical game."

And an instant later Gatomon was invisible again, this time with her human companion to accompany her. Being covered by the same field, Hikari could see her partner, as well as the figure standing in the stairwell that had helped to save her as well...

She opened her mouth to speak, but he quickly raised one finger in front of his mouth to motion for silence before gesturing up the stairwell. Right... invisible, not silent. Hikari nodded and got up as Gatomon hopped back up to her shoulder. The cloaked digimon went ahead of them, using his magic to distract a couple digimon they passed along the way as he took her right back up to the familiar top floor where the balcony awaited.

Once there, they were led to a side room where they would not be so easily heard before Wizardmon finally spoke.

"The digimon that came through the rift with Taichi and Koushiro caught up with us. They're mixing in with the weaker enemies, causing havoc while the other children deal with the strongest foes."

"Do you know how long before the Hunters arrive?"

They were close... so close to the end... just a little more. Especially with this backup, they were definitely going to win. They simply had to last until the Hunters surrounded their enemies.

"No, but it doesn't matter. The enemy army is no longer the main concern."

That caused Hikari's brain to hiccup for a moment. Not the main concern? If they could pacify these enemies, they-

"He's coming, isn't he?"

Gatomon caught on immediately. She hadn't lost sight of the real threat, even in the midst of all these other enemies and objectives... the face in her nightmares forbade her from doing so.

Wizardmon nodded as Hikari's mind clicked it into place. Myotismon... coming here. Now. Oh _damn_ it... that was the _one_ possibility she didn't plan for. She assumed he'd be unwilling to come here for fear of the prophecy, that they could take out his army and then hunt him down... but if he arrived in the middle of or immediately after the fighting, the others would be too exhausted to stand up to him.

"He learned of Phantomon's fate and he knows the condition of his army... Katsu convinced him to come here personally in order to destroy the Digidestined while they're weakened from the fight. They're both on their way as we speak."

"Damn it! We have to withdraw!"

Hikari reached for her digivice before Gatomon suddenly stopped her, her mind still set on their mission. End this war. No backing out. Not now.

"What about Hikari's crest?"

Hikari froze as her partner mentioned something that she'd all but written off as lost to them. Of course... the crest. Myotismon wouldn't trust anyone with it. He'd keep it with him at all times. If he was coming, that meant...

"He was intent to keep it far from Hikari... a choice Katsu encouraged, so he gave it to DemiDevimon to hide until the battle was over..."

Damn it! Figures that _Katsu_ would see that coming.

"...but apparently DemiDevimon isn't as loyal to his master as we imagined."

Wizardmon concluded as he drew a crest from his cloak. As soon as it emerged it began glowing brightly, unlike the other crest copies she had seen... a sign that it was, indeed the original. Taking the crest into her hand, the girl could do naught but stare at it for several seconds, hardly able to believe her eyes. It... her crest... she was holding it. She actually _had_ her crest, in hand, right _now_. She never imagined this would happen... especially after forming this insane plan. She expected death, and to never see the original at all, but now...

"However, I must warn you. Do _not_ use it until Myotismon arrives. There is no telling what he'll do if he sees Gatomon's evolved form. We must take advantage of this to ambush him... it is the only hope we have to win."

Hikari clenched the crest tightly in her hand and nodded, quickly slipping it around it neck and down under her hoodie where nobody would see it.

"DemiDevimon just _gave_ you the crest?"

Gatomon was incredulous, even if it _was_ the real Crest of Light. In fact, she was more incredulous _because_ it was real. Why would DemiDevimon do _anything_ like that? Even if he wanted to destroy Myotismon, he had to know the risks of betrayal...

"Not as such... he said he had something important to take care of and that it was now _my_ responsibility to hide it... though I suspect he knows of my true loyalties. I do not know his game, but for now he is the lesser of the evils we face. My only concern is the death of Myotismon."

Gatomon nodded. Whatever that vermin's plans, she'd worry about that later... it seemed a universal fact that everyone, good or evil, who wasn't Myotismon's brainwashed slave wanted him dead. Anyone _that_ evil needed killing before they dealt with any other problems...

"So what now?"

"Now, both of you _hide_. I will go out under stealth and use my magic to distract some of the more dangerous foes to give the other children an advantage."

For now, Hikari was content to sit and do as she was told, if only to give herself a rest from the chaos that had followed them only a minute before. Besides, now she _had_ to survive. No sacrificing herself before Myotismon arrived... without her crest and partner, it was questionable if the other Digidestined would be able to beat him.

Before long a call would come from Taichi. A trivial thing... typical from what she expected from her brother and the other children in general.

"Hikari, are you there? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Tai. Tell your friends thanks for the help."

Just checking up on her, as always... after having not heard from her for several minutes, he likely assumed the worst... and he would have been right if not for the intervention of the other digimon that had come with Taichi and Koushiro through the rift. And Wizardmon, of course, but he didn't need to know that.

"Where are you?"

"Hiding. We're both safe, brother. Don't worry about us. Take care of the enemies. We'll be out by the balcony soon, once the way is clear."

In other words, go away and stop bugging me. There's too much going on to chat right now. Fortunately Taichi got the point and cut off the transmission. That was good for Hikari because she needed all the silence she could get...

The fear was rising again. When she had resigned herself to death it got a little easier to charge right into the fight regardless of consequence, but now she intended to live... and she knew that meant eventually facing Myotismon.

Having been too weak to fight personally, and having never had to send her partner into such danger, Hikari had never known the fear that came with it. Now, however, as she thought about what was coming, she was starting to... he may not have been as brilliant as Katsu, but Myotismon terrified her. The harm he could do to Gatomon or to her personally... death was far from their biggest worry. For Hikari, her death was almost assured, but what of her friends? If she lost, what would Myotismon do to _them_?

Gatomon sensed the fear, and she already knew the reason for it... the same kind of fear passed through her own mind as well. That monster was the creature of her nightmares. Facing him would be the hardest thing she ever had to do... but she would do it, and damned if she wouldn't win, even if it cost her everything to do so.

"Hikari... do you believe in destiny?"

The girl had to stop to think for a moment? Destiny? That seemed like a stupid question, given who she was...

"Of course I do. I'm a Digides-"

"That's just a title people give you. I want to know, do you believe in _actual_ destiny?"

True destiny... the idea that her fate was predetermined, that her victory or defeat this day was already written in the pages of history, and that she was merely reading what had already been decided by some other-worldly power... did she believe _that_?

"No... not really... but there's no way everything that's happened to us already could have been by chance either. I think... I think destiny is helping us along... but it's still up to us what we do in the end."

"Then just remember this... right now, everything and everyone is working together to help us destroy Myotismon. Whatever happens to us, destiny _wants_ us to win, so we'll beat him somehow."

Hikari slowly nodded. That helped... Myotismon's death, the survival of her friends... even if she died, knowing that they would be okay helped her feel at ease. The idea of fighting him still scared her, but not as much as it had a moment before.

A few more minutes alone to gather her wits was all she needed, which was fortunate as it was all she'd get. Sora's voice suddenly erupted from her digivice in a panic, and as soon as the first word was spoken Hikari knew what was going to be said.

"EVERYONE, PULL BACK! PULL BACK _NOW_! MYOTISMON IS HERE!"

While the digivice erupted with a chaotic mess of voices screaming various panicked and surprised replies, Hikari calmly stood and opened the door, heading out slowly toward the balcony with her partner, both of them still under Wizardmon's invisibility spell.

"He's heading to the balcony! Hikari, wherever you are, head downstairs, NOW! Get as far away as you can!"

Too late. She was too close to get away now, and besides... this was her duty. It was everything the blood sucker wanted, wasn't it? A confrontation with the angel of light? Well, how he was about to get it.

Hikari spotted something out the window as the shouting passed. A Devidramon, one of Myotismon's loyal transport mounts, even though he could fly himself up there just fine. Why was he- wait...

"Down!"

Gatomon's voice interrupted that train of thought and both human and digimon alike dove to the floor a moment before a crimson stream tore through the wall, sending debris from both the walls and the windows exploding inward. It was followed by a second stream that tore through everything else in the room, shredding chairs and tables and sending their pieces flying out the windows and walls on the far side of the room.

The shock of all that explosive force was enough to knock off the invisibility cloak that covered Hikari and Gatomon, not that it would've done much good if it remained. Hikari was bleeding in several places from the shards of glass that had exploded her way, and Myotismon was a vampire... the chances that he wouldn't catch her scent instantly were non-existent. Better that the cloak faded before the smoke cleared so that Myotismon wouldn't suspect Wizardmon's betrayal.

"**Ahh... I know that scent... it's been too long, my loyal _pet_."**

Gatomon let out a sharp, nearly rabid hiss at the sound of the nightmare's voice, jumping forward to take a defensive position ahead of Hikari.

"I'm going to _kill_ you, you BASTARD!"

Aggression didn't even begin to describe what Gatomon was feeling. Fear and anger and pain swam about in her mind, mixing into a stew of pure, feral hatred. It was all she could do not to try to tear that monster's throat out right then... but she knew she couldn't. Not until she evolved...

"**Poor little, hurting child... even after all this time, you have learned _nothing_. You cannot kill me. The combined might of _all_ the destined children cannot kill me. I... am... _eternal_."**

Even as he spoke the words, the digidestined landed on the balcony behind him, each of their partners geared up and ready for a showdown. They were fatigued from all the fighting that had taken place already, but that didn't mean they were about to back down now. They had trained for the last three years for this moment...

"Eternity is about to _end_..."

Gatomon hissed as the children prepared their attacks. They were awaiting only a signal from Hikari... the moment that the girl ducked for cover so that they could unleash hell and take this monstrosity apart.

"They're not convinced."

A familiar voice came from behind the children, speaking loud enough to be heard above the sounds of the wind and the fighting in the distance, though that volume did nothing to give the voice any real life. Stepping onto the balcony, off of the head of the Devidramon Hikari saw before, was a boy wrapped in a black hood and cloak. No one could see his face, but Hikari didn't need to to know who he was. She realized the instant she heard his voice...

Katsu.

Hikari didn't even have a chance to speak before Myotismon's shrill, demonic laughter echoed about them. Even his voice alone seemed to cut into her very soul... dear god, what kind of abomination _was_ he?

"**Then I suppose it is time to _convince_ them!"**

Taichi tried to shout something to Hikari, but as she saw Katsu behind them, jumping back off the edge of the balcony, she cut him off shouted back a familiar command that her partner had been giving her a lot lately...

"DOWN!"

The children would dive down quick enough, but most of their partners were far too large to adequately avoid Myotismon's attack. Hikari had expected another blood whip. Instead they were struck by a swarm of bats that knocked most of their digimon flat on their backs, leaving them each with a large number of bite marks and greatly drained energy. The only ones who escaped with Garudamon and WereGarurumon, the former taking to the sky to dodge and the latter jumping back to grab the edge of the balcony and hide. The others went down hard, and clearly weren't going to be getting up any time soon.

The two surviving digimon quickly returned to their battle-ready poses, intent on not waiting for Hikari this time. They had to strike, even though it was clear they were completely outmatched. Myotismon had just demolished most of their group in a _single attack_. What hope did the two of _them_ have?

"**Friendship and love, the last to fall... how _touching_."**

WereGarurumon attempted to dive at Myotismon, though he was merely swatted away as if he were no more than a nuisance. A crimson whip then promptly struck out at Garudamon, knocking her down with the others before she could even attempt her own attack. Then as WereGarurumon jumped up to strike again Myotismon unleashed a shrill, hellish scream that sent most of the children to their knees, feeling as if their ears were about to burst. However, that wasn't nearly as bad as what happened to WereGarurumon. Being the main target of the attack, he was left reeling for a moment before he collapsed to the floor, his skin and fur rapidly turning dead and gray.

Behind the children, Katsu emerged again, having apparently been caught in his fall by that same Devidramon that brought him up in the first place.

"Are we finished?"

Stepping onto the balcony, he walked past the rest of the Digidestined and their partners, ignoring them entirely as he went to stand between them and Myotismon, clearly keeping some distance between himself and his master to avoid getting caught in the backlash of any attacks.

"**Quite. All that remains is _this_ one..."**

Myotismon turned back to face Hikari, all his blood lust and ambition showing through his eyes. This was the girl... the one who had stood as his greatest threat since the very beginning. Her death meant the end of the Digidestined, and the beginning of his true reign over both worlds. He had been waiting for this moment for FAR too long...

"Then it's time to end it."

Normally Katsu's dead voice and his clear determination to kill her would have shaken Hikari... but she had something they weren't expecting. Something they weren't ready for... her Light. She could fight. She was the _only_ one who could fight, and hearing Katsu's dead and passive voice, knowing what Myotismon had done to him... she didn't get scared. She got _angry_.

"Yes. It _is_."

Hikari reached into her hoodie, pulling her crest out suddenly to the shock of both Myotismon and all the Digidestined who stood behind him. She'd give him no chance to react, though... Gatomon wanted his head, and she was going to get it...

"_GATOMON!_"

The signal was all she needed. Gatomon took in all the power Hikari could give, instantly evolving to her perfect form and illuminating all of their surroundings in a blinding light that left even Myotismon reeling for several seconds. And when that light began to dim and her new form came into view, everyone would be quite shocked by what they saw... even Katsu. Among the Digidestined, the greatest shock came for those who had heard the details of the allegedly false prophecy as they now stood gazing at... the Angel of Light.

Taking full advantage of the time that Myotismon was stunned, Angewomon raised her hand and released a ring of energy that washed over all the children and their digimon, restoring WereGarurumon's color and life as well as the strength of all of the digimon present. In a few moments they were all standing once more in battle-ready formation, prepared to do what they intended to do the first time...

Myotismon didn't notice the others, though... his eyes were squarely on Hikari and her crest. He was beyond enraged... beyond furious. He was absolutely _livid_. DemiDevimon, one of the most trusted of all his inner circle... Gatomon's betrayal he had expected, but she had bee coerced into serving him. That vermin was supposed to be a demon digimon, one who was loyal to the dark and to their cause... and _HE_ was a traitor?

Myotismon would make sure to fashion a new, _exceptionally_ horrendous form of torture specifically for him after this was all over. But first things first... time to defeat destiny.

Katsu quickly moved to one side, stepping clear of the space between Myotismon and any other present digimon. Oddly enough, he didn't seem worried by the thought of being near the children's digimon. Perhaps due to Myotismon he had lost the ability to feel fear... though the shock Hikari had been able to glimpse in his eyes at the sight of Angewomon made her doubt that. More likely he knew he wouldn't be targeted because they were trying to save him... unfortunately, he was still Katsu, and he never let any advantage go unused...

"Brother... keep an eye on Katsu."

Hikari muttered into her digivice, low enough that most wouldn't hear it. Across from her, she saw her brother nod quickly to signal that he had heard her. They wanted to save the boy, but in the meantime they had to make sure he didn't hurt any of the Digidestined while their partners were distracted.

And then the battle began. Angewomon dove back, grabbing Hikari and pulling her clear of the wave of attacks that came from all the other children. Standing on directly opposite sides of Myotismon was a rather bad idea if they were trying to avoid friendly fire. Triangles were much better shapes for that...

She would have to pull Hikari clear out of the building and onto the balcony as the combined power of MetalGreymon's missiles, Lillymon's cannon, and Garudamon's wing blade collapsed most of the floor around them. As she was set down, Yamato and WereGarurumon moved near to guard her. Being a melee attacker, the werewolf couldn't help without getting in the way of his friends, so he became a shield instead. As Hikari was pushed back behind him, another crimson whip lashed out of the building, tearing through the rubble that had collapsed on and around Myotismon.

Zudomon ran forward, taking the brunt of the attack and shielding the rest of the digimon. Then, as Myotismon emerged from the rubble, he was met immediately by a hammer to the face. It didn't have quite the desired effect, however... instead, Myotismon caught the hammer with both hands, matching his strength against the giant walrus'... and apparently winning.

The hammer was shoved aside and Myotismon plant his fist firmly in Zudomon's chest. The grunt that came from the mouth of Jou's partner and the way he reeled from the strike made it clear that the force behind the attack was nothing trivial. Even at full strength, one of the physically toughest digimon in their team was nearly knocked down by a single attack...

A second wave of fire came from the children's digimon, each attack coming right right after the other. Myotismon dodged Lillymon's cannon first, though that sent him right into MetalGreymon's missiles, after which he was an easy target for Garudamon and MegaKabuterimon.

When the smoke cleared, however, Myotismon was just as quickly back on his feet and apparently no worse for wear. By his expression, he seemed... _amused_ by their attacks.

How the _hell_ was he enduring so much?

To reply to the previous blow, Zudomon threw his hammer across the balcony like a boomerang. It was knocked away with little effort, but it provided an opening... and a moment later an arrow of pure light tore through the air toward Myotismon. He noticed in time to dodge, though only barely. The arrow still struck the side of his arm, shredding his cloak there and leaving an ugly gash in his skin, out of which seeped a deep red, almost black blood.

_Yes!_ They did it! They finally managed to _hurt_ him! The way he grabbed his wound and seemed to reel back left the children suddenly feeling hopeful, save Hikari. She wanted to feel that, but something in the back of her mind told her something was wrong. This wasn't normal... what wasn't normal? Something about this-

Wait... the dog... Gatomon had sliced its throat with her claws, and yet... no blood. Digimon were data. Most of them didn't bleed, so why did-

Oh... _SHIT!_

"Everyone, _on guard!_"

Unfortunately, this time her warning wasn't caught fast enough. Everyone else was too distracted by the sudden elation of the moment, so no one was prepared when Myotismon's hand lashed out, striking them with a red-black whip of energy drawn out of his own arm. WereGarurumon tried to dive ahead to shield Hikari, though that merely left him taking the worst of the attack, and it didn't even keep the strike from hitting all the other digimon as well. The force was enough to send both him and Zudomon devolving into their baby forms and knock down all the rest of the digimon, save Angewomon, who was the only one attentive enough to dodge.

While the rest of the digimon struggled to get back to their feet, Angewomon rushed forward, unleashing a series of arrows, one right after another. Most missed completely, and those that didn't only grazed Myotismon's sides, but they were enough to keep him distracted. The angel was the only digimon he seemed to fear, so she took full advantage of that to give her friends as much time as possible to ready their counterattack. Hikari, however, was less confident in her strategy...

Darn it... Angewomon, what are you _doing_? They're not strong enough to hurt him! Save your energy, you're the only one powerful enough to do any harm! If you leave yourself open to a counterattack-

Wait, Myotismon wasn't even _trying_ to counterattack. What was he-

"Hikari!"

She turned to the sound of Yamato's voice just in time to see the look of horror on his face toward... something behind her. Oh shit...

Suddenly Hikari was seized at the neck by someone standing behind her. For a moment she tried to struggle before quickly realizing his grip was far too strong to break free from. Then she moved to aggressive resistance, twisting about to elbow him in the gut or kick his legs to knock him off balance, but to no avail. He was strong... _really_ strong. She had never realized just how strong Katsu actually was before, as the only chance she ever had to see that strength in action was when he threw that chair into the wall back in Masaharu's office. Though that alone probably should have indicated something to her...

Oh well. Too late to worry about that now. Now Hikari had to focus on not suffocating from the death-grip of Katsu's arm and losing the battle.

The distraction of Hikari getting caught enabled Myotismon to get a surprise strike on the rest of the children's partners. Another wave of bats was unleashed on them, forcing all the remaining digimon to devolve as well, save Angewomon, who was knocked clear off the edge of the edge of the building. In addition, the children were caught in the edge of the attack and went down as well. Still alive, but wounded... unable to help Hikari get free from her captor.

She caught her breath as Katsu shifted his arm, attempting to seize her crest, but she fortunately got to it first, clenching it tightly in both hands, determined not to let it get out of her grasp. No way you're taking my digimon's power... you'll have to kill me first.

"Surrender."

"Go to hell."

Sorry, Katsu. We were friends once, but there's no way in hell I'm letting you have your way now. Not while you're serving that monster.

Katsu's arm shifted back to seize her throat again, though fortunately not as hard as before. She was able to actually breath a little this time, though suddenly she wondered... why wasn't he using his other arm? Granted, he was still overpowering her with just the one, but that only made her question it more. If he was this strong, why didn't he use both arms and simply overpower her completely? Was his other arm injured or otherwise unusable? Or...

"**Katsu, kill h-"**

Before he could finish the sentence, Myotismon was impaled through the side of his chest by one of Angewomon's arrows. Apparently she didn't go down as easily as the rest, even from a direct hit. Grabbing the arrow, he tore it free from his chest and stood suddenly, unleashing a rapid series of attacks to try to swat the angel out of the sky. Blood whip, bats, another hellish scream... whatever he could use, he just wanted her down and out. She took it all fairly well, dodging or enduring each one in turn and even managing to fire a few good shots back at Myotismon, wounding him further.

The final swarm of bats actually served to Angewomon's advantage, as it blocked Myotismon's own sight of her well enough that she was able to dive down and rush to where Hikari and Katsu stood struggling. During that brief exchange of attacks Katsu had tighted his grip, apparently intent on choking Hikari to death, but he was forced to release it as Angewomon came down to strike him. Rather than see for himself whether she planned to simply injure him or to kill him outright, he released Hikari and jumped to the side, rolling several times to get a good distance away from her before climbing back up to his feet.

Hikari gasped to catch her breath before glancing aside to Katsu. _Damn_ it... so stupid... she had known he was going to be a problem before, but she wasn't paying enough attention to- wait... what was that in his hand?

"Hikari, get down!"

Suddenly she was pulled to the ground by her partner as Myotismon unleashed yet another swarm of bats upon them. This time Angewomon was unable to dodge at all, taking the full force of the attack to her back in order to shield Hikari from it.

To her credit, she remained standing and even managed to turn back to face her rival, but she was moving slower now... too slow to react when the next blow came. Another whip, striking her dead in the chest before Myotismon suddenly moved to melee range. Her arrows had caused him quite a few serious wounds and he wasn't going to let her try to take another shot. A fist to the face, a knee to the chest... for a moment he seemed to fight like WereGarurumon.

Angewomon wasn't prepared for a melee battle, so she was caught completely off-guard and pummeled back to the wall as Katsu returned to seize Hikari by the neck once more. Damn it, _AGAIN_? You son of a bitch... if I wasn't trying to save you, I'd _kill_ you!

It didn't matter what she thought, though... it was clear in a few moments that the battle was over. Angewomon was down... left alive only so that she could witness Myotismon's victory. Though she'd given as good as she got, the vampire somehow managed to stand stronger and longer. He had more holes in him than Hikari thought possible for someone who stood so tall and imposing...

"_How_ the are you _still_ standing?"

Hikari half-growled as she tried to struggle free from Katsu's grip. Myotismon turned back toward her, grinning, stretching one arm to apparently show off how little his wounds bothered him.

"**The residents of this city have been quite... accommodating in aiding me."**

The residents... _what_?

"A vampire can do amazing things with hundreds of people to fuel his strength."

Hundreds... oh hell... the people Myotismon had abducted. He was using them to fuel his strength. He'd been capturing them for the past week to- wait... the past week? Had he been _planning_ for this fight?

Myotismon apparently noticed the realization flash across Hikari's face and grinned wider. It was true... damn it, it was true! And Katsu...

"Did _you_ come up with this plan...?"

It was clear enough who she was talking to, but Katsu didn't reply. Myotismon let out another of his maddening laughs, kicking Angewomon in the gut as she briefly tried to climb to her feet. Hikari winced, trying to break free of the boy's grip again to get to her friend's side, but... nope. Katsu was still too strong. Damn it, wasn't there _anything_ left for her to do?

"It was necessary."

_Necessary_? Necessary for _what_? The fall of this city and the deaths of _everyone we hold dear_? You idiot, do you even realize what you're _doing_? Have you completely lost everything that you were before Myotismon did... whatever he did to you?

"**Katsu!"**

All eyes shifted to Myotismon as he glared down at Hikari and the boy that held her.

"**Kill the seventh child!"**

He turned to grab Angewomon by the throat, apparently intent on giving her the same treatment. However, much to the surprise of the children kneeling nearby and Myotismon himself, Katsu didn't follow his orders... in fact, he didn't do anything at all. It took only a moment for the undead to realize he was being ignored, a fact that clearly angered him greatly.

"**Katsu! Do as I command!"**

A pause. Still nothing. What was he-

"I can't."

Wait, what?

"**Do not refuse me! Kill her, or-"**

"No, I mean I _can't_. Hikari isn't the seventh child."

Wait, _WHAT_?

That thought was echoed on the faces of everyone present, from the children to their partners to Myotismon and Angewomon. Not the seventh child? What was he talking about, of _course_ she was the seventh-

...rogue. She was the seventh _rogue_ child, the seventh one who was made publicly known. But... not the seventh _Digidestined_.

"**What are you _talking_ about?"**

Myotismon was angry, that much was clear to all, try as he might to hide it, though it wasn't directed at Katsu for his refusal to kill her. His words were upsetting to the undead lord for reasons that weren't immediately evident.

"There is another destined child, Takeru. Perhaps as strong as Hikari. Partner to an Angemon. _He_ is the seventh. He disappeared three years ago, after a battle against Devimon, when the first rift opened."

Disappeared. Katsu said _disappeared_, not _died_. That implied he was alive, which Hikari already knew... but how did _Katsu_ know?

"**_WHAT_? He was supposed to be here! This was supposed to be his time! The seventh hour! The death of the angel! _Why is he not HERE?_"**

The seventh hour... Hikari didn't know what that meant, but she suspected the prophecy had something to do with it. They had only heard part of it. Apparently there was part that they hadn't heard, and it only served to prove that their suspicions were correct... the event that was described was the battle that occurred three years before on Infinity Mountain.

"My lord!"

All eyes were diverted suddenly at the arrival of Wizardmon at the edge of the balcony, calling to Myotismon, apparently still feigning loyalty... good actor, Hikari had to admit, though this hardly seemed like the time to keep playing, given the direness of their situation.

"Our offensive has collapsed! The Hunter's main force arrived and has surrounded and decimated our army! The few survivors are either fleeing or being exterminated as I speak!"

Hikari grinned in spite of herself at seeing the grimace on Myotismon's face. Things were not going as he planned... between Katsu's words and Wizardmon's news his plots were rapidly getting derailed. Even if the Digidestined's own situation wasn't improved, it felt good to see him getting knocked off base by such bad news...

"**Damn the army! They don't matter now! Wizardmon, do you know of the destined child, Takeru?"**

Wizardmon paused a moment, apparently surprised, though as calm and level-headed as ever. Hikari briefly wondered if perhaps he was acting _too_ well, given Myotismon's mood and the state of their forces...

"Yes... of course. I had heard-"

"**_Where is he?_"**

Wizardmon paused again, looking more surprised than ever. Did he think Takeru was dead? Or was he simply surprised by this line of questioning?

"My lord... he is standing right here with us."

...what?

"..._what_?"

Yamato muttered, together with several other children. Takeru, his own brother, the one he had thought killed by Devimon...?

"**_What? WHERE?_"**

Then Hikari was suddenly on her knees, released from Katsu's grasp as the boy dove forward at Myotismon, tearing off the cloak that had covered his face and body before ramming his hand into Myotismon's chest. Not simply against it... _into_ it. His fingers tore through Myotismon's skin, digging in to his chest over his heart... or at least where his heart _would_ have been if he were human.

"Right _here_."

It was notable that he was using the arm that he had left unused before... and now, with the cloak gone, it was clear why he hadn't been using it before. He'd been hiding what he held... his entire arm, from his fingers to his shoulder, was wrapped in a large, slightly bulky-looking metal... _thing_. It looked almost like some sort of mechanical exoskeleton... what the _hell_ was he using?

"**Wha... _what_? You..."**

Myotismon gurgled, falling to his knees as Katsu's hand dug deeper into his body, reaching into his very core.

"Takeru Takaishi. The _seventh child_."

As he spoke, Wizardmon snapped his fingers and in a few moments Katsu's appearance began to change. The black color seemed to drain from his hair, slowly receding to the roots. His face remained the same, however it was suddenly clear why he had been wearing the hood to hide his face... with the blonde hair he much more closely resembled Yamato, yet anybody who knew him would recognize the similarity even with the darker hair... and his friends most certainly knew him. He had been hiding his face from them because they would have realized his identity instantly.

"**You... I... broke you..."**

"_Broke_ me?

Katsu- no... not Katsu. Just as Masaharu said, there is no Katsu Fang and there never was. It was just a name... the name of a boy that doesn't exist, the asmk of a boy who threw himself away to become something else... the mask worn by _Takeru_.

_Takeru's_ words were muttered, grim and dark as anything Hikari had known from his days as commander of SDZ, a complete change from the dead and empty tone he'd been using only moments before. Forget Wizardmon's acting... this boy made him look like an amateur by comparison. His service to Myotismon... it had all been an _act_?

"The only one who ever _broke_ me lies dead atop Infinity Mountain. I still see his face... I hear his voice every night in my dreams, along with the screams of the child who watched his best friend be betrayed and _murdered_. Compared to that, your voice is nothing but a whisper in the wind. _You_ could never hope to break _me_."

Hikari had to start taking quick, shallow breaths, feeling the darkness weighing heavy upon her again. This wasn't the calm, controlled boy she had known before... all the emotions he had kept pent up were now being released, his darkness directed squarely toward Myotismon, though Hikari, bearer of the Light, felt the backlash of that power strongly enough to keep her on her knees and struggling to breathe.

"**How... can you..."**

Myotismon screamed again as Takeru drove his hand the rest of the way into Myotismon's chest.

"This is a little something created by a friend of mine. A tool to extract DigiCores."

Hikari didn't know what a DigiCore was, but given the response Myotismon was giving, it was clearly not something that was meant to be tampered with...

Then the machine parts around Takeru's arm shifted a bit and Hikari suspected that he was clenching his fist, though she couldn't see it... still, it was the only thing that would explain Myotismon's horrendously pained screams that followed.

"**You... shouldn't have... that... kind of power..."**

"I admit it wasn't easy... Hunter technology is pathetic. This tool was barely functional at first, and had nowhere near the power needed to pull off something like this. Fortunately, the guardians of the digital world gave me a power source far better than any of the crap the Hunters could come up with."

Then Takeru reached under his shirt and drew out something familiar... a small yellow tag on a chain, glowing brightly as the mechanical arm drew from its power.

"**A... crest..."**

"Hope. _The light that shines no matter how deep the darkness._ Even yours... more than enough power there to pierce through your defenses after they were weakened by the Digidestined."

So that was it... the reason for the entire act. He was setting things up from the inside, staging Myotismon's fall by ensuring that all the pieces were prepared on both sides of the battlefield. Even if the Digidestined lost, so long as they weakened him it would be enough for Takeru to finish the job personally. Still... it didn't explain why he impeded their progress as he did. If he hadn't gotten in the way, they could have won outright. His intervention wouldn't have been _needed_ if he hadn't messed them up in the first place.

Then he started to pull, and what the children had thought was a scream of pain before was put to shame by a shriek of pure, incomprehensible torment as he began drawing something out of Myotismon's chest. A few seconds later his hand emerged completely, and grasped in the mechanical fingers of his glove was a glowing, spherical object... Myotismon's DigiCore, apparently.

Myotismon collapsed to his hands and knees, trying to mutter between pained gasps, though nothing came out. He had seemed so powerful and imposing before, and yet now... he seemed almost pitiable. Helpless.

"I know what you're thinking... 'Without that, I won't be able to trigger my resurrection.'"

Myotismon's eyes went wide and he looked up suddenly, still gasping for breath, even more strained than Hikari herself.

"That's right. I know all about it. I knew even before Wizardmon told me. Really, do you think I'm an _idiot_? Digimon or not, you're undead... a _vampire_, and you think I wasn't expecting some kind of plot to revive yourself after being killed?"

The digimon's expression slowly shifted from pain and anguish to pure horror. One by one, every single plot he had to ensure his victory was being undone right before his eyes and he was absolutely helpless to resist. With his DigiCore removed from his body, he barely had the strength of a child, if even that...

"No. Not this time, Myotismon. You and your diseased kind have had your run of both worlds long enough. I'm going to make an example of you, so that the next time some fool tries to seize control of either world, they can think back and remember _what happened to Myotismon_."

Takeru's crest began glowing even brighter, as did the DigiCore in his hand as tiny micro-cracks started appearing on its surface, accompanied by a soul-ripping scream as Myotismon convulsed on the ground. He attempted to thrash and strike at Takeru, though he could barely muster the energy to do more than writhe about pathetically.

However, as the Digidestined realized what was happening, Koushiro's expression soon turned to horror as well. Takeru was... _WHAT?_ NO!

"_TAKERU! _**_STOP!_**_ DON'T-_"

Koushiro had no time to move. Takeru's grip tightened further and in a few moments the micro-cracks grew rapidly larger, spreading across the entire surface of the orb. Then with one final motion, Takeru clenched his hand into a fist, crushing the DigiCore completely. The sphere exploded in a burst of energy that stunned and knocked back everyone present, and the wave of energy washed over the entire area, to be felt by everyone, both digimon and human alike. Most humans wouldn't know what they felt... to them it was no more than a slight trembling in their heart, as if something terrible had just happened, but they knew not what. The digimon would have a better idea, being creatures of data themselves. All digimon ceased their fighting instantly, eyes averting up toward the station as they felt the last, dying echoes of Myotismon fade into nothing.

The Digidestined felt it more intensely through their digivices, and Hikari most of all... and in that moment she realized what has just happened. That wasn't just the core of Myotismon's body or powers... that was...

Oh... my... _god_...

Takeru did more than simply kill Myotismon. He had just destroyed his... his _SOUL_! His mind, his will, his personality... everything that Myotismon was... Takeru had destroyed it utterly, erasing his very existence.

With nothing left to hold it together, the monster's husk of a body collapsed to the ground, rapidly disintegrating into nothing and Hikari could only look on with pure, abject horror. Takeru had just... dear lord, what had she just _seen_? Hikari thought she knew hatred and cruelty before, but... what he had just done... was that as bad as Myotismon ever was? Was it _worse_?

"Ka... Takeru... what did you just _do_?"

If Hikari was hoping for some sign of remorse, she found none. The boy didn't even turn back to look at her. Instead he walked up to the edge of the balcony, clenched fist still held up for all to see. The fighting below had ceased, and all digimon were now looking squarely at him, knowing what he had done...

Then he unclenched his fist, though the glove seemed to let out a pained mechanical sound as he did so, having apparently been strained by the destruction of that first DigiCore. Yet it obeyed, and soon he held out his open fist as a warning, inviting any other hostile digimon to come and join in their master's fate.

The response was immediate and extreme. Every creature that had served Myotismon turned and fled as fast as their legs or wings could take them. Screams of fear rose up from the massively thinned crowds as each one struggled to be the first one out of his sight and away to safety... what safety there was to be found.

Turning around, Takeru stepped away from the ledge and grabbed his shoulder with his free hand to begin stripping off the ruined machine glove.

"Wizardmon."

Knowing already what he was going to ask, Wizardmon nodded, indicating to everyone nearby that these two had long-shared an alliance of sorts, if it wasn't already clear by the illusion that he had cast over the boy to hide his true appearance.

"Some of the computers in Myotismon's former territory still work. The survivors should be able to flee back to the digital world."

"Good. Go to my dad and tell him to call back the Hunters. I want the survivors to escape... let them spread the word of what happened here so that nobody is stupid enough to attempt a fourth invasion."

Wizardmon nodded and headed off the balcony, down to the ground where the Hunters and good digimon were already getting to work collecting their equipment and tending to their wounded. As for the Digidestined children... once Takeru finished tearing the glove off his arm, they were all left in stunned silence. Most of them had thought Takeru was dead, and to find he was not only alive but had been involved in the war all along... and then to see him do _that_... what could they possibly say?

"Takeru..."

Still, Yamato tried. He couldn't think of what words to form, but this was his _brother_. Three years apart, thinking him dead... he couldn't simply let this moment pass without _some_ kind of action. Yet Takeru's response was nothing that he might have expected. He didn't even turn to look back, instead shifting his gaze to the Digidestined of Light.

"Hikari, I'm going down to report to my father about everything that's happened. Come join me when you're ready... you're still the head of SDZ, at least until the end of the day. Someone in the Hunters will want a final report."

As for the rest of the children, he didn't offer so much as a glance their way. They didn't matter... they were the same traitors who had abandoned his best friend to die three years ago. They served their purpose and helped win the war, but that didn't mean he cared for them or owed them anything.

The Digidestined, of course, didn't know what to say as he turned and left. They'd never known Takeru to be angry or spiteful, yet now... it was evident that most of what Hikari had seen in Katsu wasn't merely an act. The coldness and hostility that he held toward them and most of the world was very real. If anything, he had concealed most of his darkest emotions and was even worse than Hikari knew. How else could he do what he did to Myotismon without the slightest hesitation?

In time, all the children would gather themselves and their partners and begin working their way around the rubble of the building to head down toward the ground floor where they would be find a large contingent of Hunter soldiers waiting for them. They were immediately taken into protective custody and led into a nearby military APC to be escorted back to Hunter HQ. They didn't know if there were any stray enemies still around, but after everything that had just happened, there was no way in hell the Hunters were going to let anything happen to the children before they got back to base...

It was there that, finally... beaten, bruised, and exhausted in every way imaginable, both in body and soul... they finally felt the war end. The moment where they could just sit and think and let the realization set in. Datamon, Etemon, Phantomon, Myotismon... the entire invading army, all the traitors in the Hunter Command... they were defeated. Their enemies had all been beaten, to the very last, with the few survivors being allowed to flee only so that they could carry word of their defeat to the digital world.

Three years... fighting with only a hope of victory, never truly knowing if it would come. They had seen victory come so close and slip away so many times before... especially after the defeat of Etemon, when they thought it was at last time for peace, only to have an even worse invasion follow. But now they were well and truly... victorious.

Mimi was the first to fall at the realization. She simply slumped down against Sora at her side and started crying, unable to stop herself. Jou was next, followed by Yamato and then the others. Each response varied a bit... some held more tears than others, though only Hikari would go the entire trip without shedding a single tear.

For her... she was merely numb. The war wasn't truly over in her mind... not yet. The enemies had fallen, but what was to come next? The peace they had won... how well would it endure, and what was to happen to them now? Could the seven of them even return to normal lives now? To say nothing of Katsu... of Takeru. Could he even return to being a normal _person_ after what had happened? For that matter... did he even _want_ to?

Hikari signed and glanced down at her partner in her lap, sleeping soundly for what brief time she had to do so. Hikari slowly petted her, noting that, for the first time, she didn't tremble at the girl's touch. She would always have nightmares of the tortures her old master inflicted, almost every night, but now... she was at peace. For the first time she could finally be well and truly... happy.

Hikari smiled, leaning her head back against the seat. Well... the future may not be certain, but... for now they were free. For now, they could be happy. That was worth something...

When they arrived at the base, the children slowly filed out of the vehicle, their baby-form partners in hand, most of them red-eyed from the tears. When they emerged it seemed like all the Hunters in the city were outside to greet them. Hikari was the first out, to be met by an enormous cheer from the crowd. The cheers only grew louder with each child, until at last the final child emerged... Yamato. He had stayed at the back of the group, almost dreading the idea of stepping out to face the world again, especially his parents.

Three years was a long time... like Hikari, he didn't know what to expect upon meeting his family again. Talking to them was one thing, but he'd never actually seen them in person since the war began. Even when he came to the Hunter base he avoided seeing his father in order to ensure he didn't lose his focus or composure, but now...

When he stepped out of the APC to find his father and mother standing ahead of him, waiting for all of the children, he didn't think. He ran out and grabbed them, pulling them both into the tightest hug his tired muscles could manage. Then he broke down and just wept, unable to release them or stop the tears. The war, his parents, his brother... all the close calls and near misses, all the times he'd thought them dead or in danger of being so, all the times he thought he'd never see them again, either because of their demise or his own... it was too much to handle.

For Masaharu and Natsuko, they followed suit, though the former was able to maintain his composure a bit... but only because he had cried himself out many times before over the course of this war.

"Welcome home, son..."

Hikari glanced aside from the happy family to the figure who stood at the edge of the crowd, digivice in hand, crest hanging from his neck. He wasn't showing the same elation as everyone else... no tears or overwhelming joy at their victory, yet he was... smiling, albeit slightly. Even the absolutely cold-hearted Takeru, once dead and then alive again, couldn't fully resist the emotion of the moment.

He caught her gaze and raised one eyebrow inquisitively, apparently wondering why she was watching him with such an intent gaze. Oh, what the heck... nothing for it. She'd never have this chance again, so she may as well make it count. Walking over to him, she helped her partner back up onto her shoulder to free one of her hands, holding it out to him in greeting.

"Hello, I don't think we've met. I'm Hikari... Hikari Yagami."

He paused, watching her with a knowing expression, looking like he was almost going to turn away, but then he thought better of it... likely he had the same thought as her. Why the heck not? It wasn't as if they'd ever have this chance again, so he took her hand and shook it lightly, smiling slightly wider.

"Takeru Takaishi... the seventh child. Pleasure to meet you, Hikari Yagami."

* * *

Additional Notes: So there it is! I'm sure that some of you weren't really surprised by the big twist (in fact, probably most of you by now...) but I hope there were still a few shocking moments in there to spice things up... anyway, this story isn't quite complete yet. There is still an epilogue chapter for me to write, followed by the semi-prequel.

Now, regarding that, I am actually going to be adding Book Zero: The Fall to the end of this story rather than making it a separate entry. I'm doing this for two reasons. First, it's not going to be extremely long, so I wasn't sure if it deserved its own entry. Second, it's going to center around Takeru after the battle against Devimon, as well as the rise of Katsu. Since that will obviously contain some spoileriffic material, I'd rather not have anybody find and read that part first and then have a bunch of stuff spoiled for _this_ story. (Then again, given that quite a few people mentioned their suspicions about Takeru in reviews, maybe it won't be so spoileriffic after all... still, best to play it safe)

So anyway... epilogue coming soon, which will flow right into Book Zero (though I'll leave you all to try to figure out how that's gonna happen... not gonna reveal _all_ my plans just yet. ;) )


	21. Set the Sunset

A/N: I don't know how I got this chapter done so fast, except that as soon as the last chapter was finished I just had an overwhelming desire to get this out. It felt like the book was finished, but... not finished. Like everyone was watching, thinking the story was done while I was screaming in the back of my head "No, no, wait! There's still more to tell!" -_-

So now, without further ado, is the TRUE end to Book 1, as well as the lead-in for Book Zero, which I will be writing up and posting shortly as well. Enjoy!

Epilogue: Set the Sunset

**Nothing ever truly ends.**

There was no real ceremony to celebrate the end of the war. The Japanese government made several plans for such events, but various parties in the Hunters and the local government cut them short as soon as they started to form.

The nature of the war was peculiar... it wasn't the whole world or even a whole nation at war, it was a single city. There was no home front supporting the men and women gone off to the front lines, for their homes _were_ the front lines. Nor was there was any coming home for the soldiers, as they were already there. There was also very little in terms of foreign aid, as most of the world lacked the kind of weapons needed to fight the enemies that had invaded Odaiba.

Thus, while the relief felt from the knowledge that the extra-dimensional invaders had been driven back was universal, the fact that the war was so isolated also made it difficult for anyone to relate to what had really happened there. After the war was over, there were two kinds of people in the world – those who had fought against digimon and those that hadn't, and it was impossible for the latter to truly understand the former.

As for the people of Odaiba, their celebrations were much smaller, and often mixed with grieving. After the final victory, the Hunters went immediately with several of the children to Myotismon's former territory to locate any survivors. To their relief, most of the hundreds of civilians that had been captured during the final week were still alive. Myotismon had placed them in a kind of comatose state that allowed him to continue drawing power from them during the final confrontation.

However, that relief was tempered by the grief of the thousands of others that had been killed over the previous months since Myotismon first invaded. He maintained a regular diet of humans to keep himself at peak strength, so the survival rate of those who had been captured before was painfully low.

Likewise, reclamation of the lost parts of the city was a cause for celebration, but there was little to nothing left that was familiar anymore. Homes and offices had been completely stripped clean, in some cases down to the carpet and the wall or ceiling fixtures. Many areas had also been partially rebuilt to be more defensible in case of a counterattack, so many formerly familiar buildings didn't even have the same layout anymore. The land was all there to be had, but it no longer felt like home.

Still, the people found ways to celebrate regardless. Nothing large or overt... those celebrations would feel too fake and shallow. Instead, they celebrated the small things. Just like the past three years, it wouldn't be quick or sudden. The final battle was an exception to the general rule of a slow, grinding war... but their reclamation would follow the normal pattern. Slow and steady, only this time toward hope and not despair.

There was _one_ major event that the local authorities permitted, at the request of the Digidestined. It had originally been Taichi's idea, though he soon got his sister and Mimi on board to support it. A public memorial service for their dead... there were too many to hold memorials for all of them at once, or even separately... they'd end up having a series of memorials that lasted as long as the war itself had. But they could hold one, at least... one for their friend. He deserved that much, at least...

* * *

Hikari glanced up, watching the thick layer of clouds move across the sky as people filed in from the streets toward the memorial grounds. It wasn't raining, but it looked as if it might at any moment... that seemed fitting. Even nature itself apparently shared the feelings of the people of Odaiba... had there been more rainy days since the war ended, or had Hikari simply been noticing them more?

She looked down, nodding to another couple as they offered her a quick greeting. Gatomon was resting on her shoulder, as always, so she was easy to spot amongst the crowd. Like all the other children with their partners, people knew instantly who she was. Most chose to pass by without speaking to her, perhaps out of fear... the reputation of the children was a bit more dire and intimidating than they truly deserved. Legendary warriors or not, they were still children. The majority of those that did greet her were Hunters and their families or the like. People who'd seen them first hand and knew who they really were beneath the stories and legends.

Finally a face would approach that she knew. Most of her friends and family had already headed in past her. Only she remained at the outside to wait for a particular face, unsure if he'd be there.

"Have you seen him yet?"

Hikari shook her head, glancing out toward the road again. Takeru was still nowhere in sight. Ken had predicted the boy wouldn't show up at all given his history... apparently the two of them knew each other quite well, and Ken had even known some of his true history back when they were still fighting. Enough to know that 'Katsu' was a fake name, at least. His father, likewise, had known his real identity... both his parents had, in fact, but they chose to speak of him as if he were dead for his sake. He had preferred it that way, and it was safer for all parties involved not to have any public affiliation between him and any of the other children.

Besides, what could they have told Yamato and the others? Yes, Takeru is alive, but his partner is dead and he hates you all now? There was no way that would have gone over well... and the consequences of giving the children that kind of distraction would have been too severe. Better that it happened this way... not that Hikari approved of everything Takeru did, but... he won. In the end, he _did_ win, and she had to acknowledge that, at least.

"There's only a few minutes left."

Hikari sighed, still saying nothing. Really, Takeru? You can't even make it for _this_? This isn't just for Jou's father, this is for everyone who died in the war. Do all those lives mean _nothing_ to you?

"...alright, let's go then."

Hikari motioned to the Hunters standing nearby as her escort and they moved ahead to lead the way through the crowd to get her and Ken toward the front where the other children were already waiting. Their families were there as well... they'd all been quickly flown back to Odaiba for this event,though she knew at least some of them wouldn't be staying. Their old homes had been destroyed and they had established new lives elsewhere in Japan. Better to stay there then try to come back and rebuild what they used to have here.

It was rather humorous to see the children sitting there at the front row now... if not for their parents all sitting directly behind them, one might think they were part of the same family at a glance... physical differences aside, their demeanor spoke of family, not merely of friends, especially her brother and Yamato sitting at the head of the- wait, no... there were two open seats there.

Hikari glanced down the line, confused. The positions normally reserved for the 'leaders' were empty, and Taichi and Yamato were sitting on the opposite end. Maybe they were just showing rebellion to the regular conventions and traditions, but... still, it seemed rather odd.

It suddenly became clear what was going on as Ken took a seat by the 'brothers' and Hikari was led to the end of the line. Oh son of a... _really_? Putting her at the head, as the leader? She wasn't... bah. She could tell from a few brief glances her way that the other Digidestined weren't going to let her get out of it. Fine, she wasn't going to argue. No reason to make a scene over something like this. However, when she sat down at the head of the line it made the absence of anyone in the seat beside her that much more noticeable.

For a moment Hikari glanced over, catching the gaze of every child and digimon in her row, all of which offered the same answer. No idea. Takeru was still a no-show, and clearly nobody had heard anything from him, either.

Hikari sighed again, almost getting annoyed except that the feline that curled up to purr in her lap made that difficult to do. Darn it, Gatomon, stop ruining my bad mood...

Finally Hikari resigned herself to simply petting the cat and waiting for the ceremony to start. To no one's surprise, Masaharu was the one to step up to the platform when it was time. He was still acting Director of the Hunters, with the business of reclaiming the city keeping them too busy to properly reorganize their command branch. And after that there was still the court hearings to be had for the former Director and his accomplices... with all that, Masaharu was likely to remain where he was for quite a while yet.

However, despite his position, Masaharu didn't step up in his military uniform... he didn't even come dressed in formal or semi-formal attire. He was probably the most under-dressed person present in jeans and a t-shirt. Though fortunately he had enough taste to make sure he was clean shaven...

Masaharu was silent for a moment after he stepped up. Hikari couldn't tell if he was reading something from his papers on the podium or just thinking... was something wrong? What-

"I... was asked to speak a few words today. As Director of the Hunters it only seemed right. However... after arriving today, I realized that... I have no idea what to say. I'm not a... an eloquent speaker. I'm not even a real leader. Not in my own eyes. I'm just a man. A man who was given a job to save lives, and did that to the best of my abilities."

It was clear that whatever notes may have been present, he wasn't reading from them. Then again, that was Masaharu's nature. Formal speeches were clearly not his thing... and Hikari preferred it that way. Better a straightforward and simple man to a... politician.

"So... I asked someone else to come and speak for me instead. Someone who's better at this sort of thing."

Masaharu glanced back and all eyes followed him to the boy-

Ah... well, that answers _that_ question.

As Masaharu moved to step away from the podium, Takeru grabbed the papers that had been sitting there and handed them to his father... with nothing to replace it. No notes. Not really a surprise for Hikari... he was always one to simply speak his mind, not to plan speeches. Though she had to wonder just what he was going to say here... he wasn't one to be highly emotional, so she wasn't sure if he was necessarily the best choice to handle-

"Leave your grief here."

Oh hell. This wasn't going to end well...

"We came here to make a memorial to what we lost in the war. People, homes... our pasts. We came here to grieve... but we can't grieve forever."

Takeru turned to motion back to the casket behind him, at the back of the raised platform. It was as much a figurative memorial as a literal one... though Jou's father was in it, it also represented the friends and families of everyone else that were lost in the war. No single face... simply a closed casket for everyone to put their own face on.

"This represents every man, woman and child that was killed in this war. In it is the body Doctor Kido, father of one of the Digidestined. He gave his life to save his son, and with his dying words told his son that he was a _hero_. A hero because he saved lives. He didn't say to remember him. He didn't say to fight or to win... he only told his son to remember that he was _a hero_. He told his son... to remember who he was, because he wanted him to _live_."

Hikari felt a sort of tension rising among the crowd, but there was also something else... in Takeru's eyes, she saw something she'd never seen before. Hope... real hope, not just the grim reality of the war and a determination not to lose. The darkness was still there, but... he had his light. A dim light, but still a light. That was more than she'd ever seen before.

"Doctor Kido is not here. He is not in that casket. All that is in there is the body, not the man. The man is gone, as are all of our homes and loved ones. We cannot bring them back... we can only stay where we are and hold on to the past until we are as dead as they are."

Loved ones... to everyone else, they heard the names of their mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers and children... but Hikari knew better. She heard a different name in those words. Angemon... Takeru was, for a rare occasion, speaking out of his own experience and feelings...

"We have lost a lot. Too much to measure. There is no shame in feeling that loss. So grieve. Cry until you have no tears left, but when you're done... remember that you're still alive. Remember that these people who loved you, many of whom gave their lives willingly for you, would want you to live, and live well. We may have won this war... but that victory is meaningless if nobody was saved by it."

The mood of the crowd quickly changed, the borderline hostility that was felt melting away. They had come expecting to hear someone speaking gently about remembering what had been lost, not the brick-to-the-face directness that Takeru brought, so that had been a bit shocking... but once they came to realize what he was actually saying they became a little more understanding.

"For those that died for me, I am their victory. My life is their victory. If I waste that life holding onto the past, their victory is meaningless. Beyond that... there is nothing else to say. Grieve... then heal. Leave your grief here, stand up, and move on. Live for those who don't have lives anymore."

With that, Takeru simply turned and stepped off the platform, no additional ceremony or fanfare to accompany him. He briefly turned to head down the aisle as if to leave, but Hikari grabbed his wrist to stop him. He briefly resisted, but she only tightened his grip, his eyes shifting up to meet his out of the corner of her gaze, giving him the first true death-glare she had ever given anyone. No. Don't you _dare_. Feel whatever you like, but you're not just going to walk away and disrespected everyone here today. You don't like the others? _Deal with it_. You're staying to pay your respects, the same as everyone else.

Finally he took the hint and moved to sit down beside her in the second seat. Honestly, she would have sooner given him the lead seat, but... with the current schism between him and the other children, he probably wouldn't have appreciated that.

There was silence for a few moments afterward. Then Jou stood and headed up to the platform, removing his coat. She hadn't noticed he was wearing his father's medical coat... granted, she had seen it, but she hadn't really thought anything of it before. Now she realized the significance of it as he pulled it out and spread it across the top of the casket.

His action set off countless others, and soon everyone was standing, slowly filing toward the front to pay their respects, some placing items of some sentimental on or beside the casket, or simply pausing to take a few moments to remember those they had lost. Most departed after they had done so, though with the size of the crowds around them, it would be quite a long time before the numbers truly started to thin.

The Digidestined also went up... most simply pausing before turning away, though a few left something there in memory of some friend of relative Hikari didn't know of. Hikari remained in her seat, occasionally glancing aside to Takeru, who remained seated and motionless beside her, simply watching everyone pass. Much to Hikari's surprise, he didn't stand and depart when the rest of the children did... or even after the crowd had thinned to almost nothing. He remained until there was almost no one left. Somewhere in that time, she could have sworn she saw him toying with something in the pocket of his coat for only a moment, but he never drew it out for her to see... an object of sentiment, maybe? But it never made its way up to the platform with the others...

In the end, once all but the Hunter guard around them were gone, he stood, heading back and away from the seating area where she spotted Ken waiting. Odd... she hadn't seen him go up, either. Maybe she just wasn't paying attention? Still, it was clear they weren't staying to chat, and they had no desire to be overheard, so she chose not to follow. Instead she went to find Masaharu and Natsuko in order to get a ride back home. She couldn't watch out for Takeru forever... he made his own choices, for better or worse. She could only hope that whatever choices he made next, they were not to the detriment of everyone she cared for...

* * *

In the weeks following the end, the Digidestined began to slowly untangle. Circumstance and choices both began pulling them all their separate ways, some more than others. Jou was first to go, being the responsible one. He left Odaiba to join his family, after which he would return to his schooling. Given his accomplishments, he had been given a universal scholarship to any college and medical school he wanted. In Japan, the schools were all more than happy to pay all expenses just for the chance to say they had one of the saviors of humanity attend their institution. And on the off chance that he chose a foreign school, the Japanese government offered him a full scholarship, including traveling expenses.

Jou wasn't the only one to have apparently the whole world at his beck and call. The other children all got similar offers in some form or another. School scholarships, work offers... most were at a loss on what to do, as they had been caught up in the war for so long that they'd become somewhat detached from their normal lives.

Taichi was the first to figure out what he wanted, though. He knew instinctively... he was born to fight, and as much as they may like to think their peace would last forever, there would inevitably be another battle in the future, sooner or later. When, where, and what form it took... he neither knew nor cared, for they didn't matter. What mattered was making sure he was ready... thus he ended up joining the Digimon Hunters for more formal military training.

SDZ was all but disbanded at the end of the war. Hikari departed the Hunters to go back to a normal life, and Takeru cut all official ties with anyone, so they were without leadership. In addition, all the younger members began returning to their old lives as well, massively reducing their numbers. In the end, the group was reorganized into a special task force of their elite adult soldiers, including all the survivors of the Devil's Arms teams that 'Katsu' had organized before.

Taichi was set as assistant commander of the division, close enough to see the inner workings of military command, but with much less actual responsibility so that he could focus on his training. Inevitably, he would in time be promoted to division leader, but that was still a ways off. They weren't in their former desperate straits, so they didn't need to rush a Digidestined into a command role, and this way he'd be better prepared in the long run, once he was needed to lead once more.

Yamato all but disappeared around that time... he returned to living with his parents and going to school, but he took to taking classes at home with private tutors, becoming far more reclusive than any of the others. However, given what he had experienced with his family, particularly his brother, that was of little surprise to Hikari. He just needed some time alone and away from the world. He'd get better eventually...

Koushiro took a very different path that most... with his reputation as the technical expert of the team, and the fact that he was already years ahead of most children his age in terms of education, he was actually sought as a professional consultant in all matters regarding digimon or the digital world. After helping the digimon stranded in the human world get home and directing some of them on how to begin dismantling the Dark Network, his work with them was done... the Digidestined would no doubt be needed again in the future, but with Myotismon and Etemon defeated, the good digimon were free to start rebuilding their own world in peace as well.

Thus Koushiro remained in the analogue world and decided to go abroad, studying in his free time while meeting with members of various educational and government institutions to teach people about the digital world and digimon in general. He wasn't keen on the idea of giving speeches, but he figured he could get out of that if he kept his understanding of foreign languages to a minimum... get a translator to speak for him. It'd be far easier that way.

* * *

"So, how's the training coming?"

Mimi grinned a little at seeing Taichi's sigh. About what she expected... changing from an independent group of outcasts to an officer-in-training was bound to be a hard shift. That was one of the biggest reasons she never even considered doing so.

"Slow. Everything's still being reorganized in SDZ. Don't know how long it'll take, either, so I'm probably going to have to put my training on hold for a few more weeks."

"Well, that may be a good thing. More time to rest and prepare."

"Maybe. What about you? Sora told me you and her were planning something..."

Mimi offered a slightly wider girly-grin, earning a confused expression from Taichi. He hadn't seen a look like _that_ from her in... well, a long time, anyway.

"I'm going on a date with Koushiro."

"A d- er... what?"

He'd suspected there was some attraction between them, but he hadn't expected to hear _that_, especially with the news that Koushiro was leaving on a trip...

Mimi just giggled, though. Oh, it was fun to play with people's heads again. Been too long since she could do that without constant danger looming over their heads.

"I'm going with him. Sora, too. I always wanted to travel the world, and Sora needs some time away from... all this. By the time we get back things in this city should be returning the way they used to be. And it's a help for Koushiro, too. He'll need some time to relax from all the work he's doing, but he doesn't know the first thing about being a tourist, so Sora and I can plan all our destinations while he plans the work."

Ah. Well, that made a lot more sense. More in-line with the character of his friends, too. It made him a little upset that he wouldn't be seeing Sora for a while, but... Mimi was right. She needed a break, and having Taichi or Yamato around wouldn't help her with that. Maybe after she returned they could figure out what was going to happen with... _them_. All of them...

"Will you be studying abroad?"

"Of course! We have an 'expert team' going with us. Masaharu pulled some strings... got a couple private tutors for me and Sora, not to mention some professional tourists who know all about the world's hotspots. We'll be learning lots while we're away... and with any luck I'll come back with a couple new languages learned as well."

Taichi nodded, leaning back against the edge of the balcony atop the Hunter base. It was strange to think of how quickly this place started feeling like home to him after it had been so hostile before... he wondered how long it would be before they started getting used to being apart. How long until those war days seemed like ages ago...

"You okay?"

Taichi glanced up again, realizing that he'd let his mind start drifting.

"Yeah, I just... I dunno. I feel weird. Everyone's moving apart. Back when we were fighting, it felt like we'd all be together forever, and now..."

Mimi nodded, moving to lean against the rail beside him.

"We still are. We just have a lot more to take care of. We'll all get back together in the end, you know... but we've got things to do. We can't stay kids forever."

"I didn't realize we _were_ still kids..."

Mimi smiled sadly, letting out a slight sigh. Yeah... that was true, too... even after learning Takeru was alive, their wounds hadn't fully healed. Many of them still blamed themselves, Yamato most of all... these weren't the kinds of feelings that were supposed to be held by children. These sorts of war scars were supposed to be worn by tired old men and grizzled adult soldiers.

"Maybe not, but we've still got some growing up to do. And better to do that now, right? Takeru was right when he said we can't hold on to the past forever. We've gotta move forward. The sooner we do, the better off we'll be."

Taichi nodded and slowly pushed himself off from the railing, heading toward the door with Mimi close behind.

"You'll keep an eye on Yamato, won't you? I'm a little worried what'll happen without me there to mother him..."

Taichi nodded again. Yamato had a lot of people to help him, but many of the closest were leaving... he was one of the few that was staying close enough to maintain the same kind of bond they'd had before.

"He's my brother. I've got his back until the end. I'll make sure he gets through this. You just keep an eye on Koushiro and make sure he doesn't work himself to death."

Mimi giggled again. Not at the thought of Koushiro doing that – it really _wasn't_ an exaggeration – but at the words Taichi left unspoken.

"Don't you mean take care of _Sora_?"

Taichi sighed once more, shaking his head. They were just talking about helping Yamato... not the best thing to bring up.

"You said it, not me."

Mimi withheld her next giggle. Alright, be nice... that's still a sensitive issue, Mimi, especially since nobody really knew how it was going to end. That was part of the reason Sora was leaving... she had to take time away to think and figure out her life and her heart. Neither Taichi nor Yamato knew what to expect when she returned... truthfully, neither did _she_. But it was better than trying to force herself to make a choice now. Whatever the outcome, it was best that the choice she makes is honest to herself and to others... that's the reason Mimi encouraged her to go with herself and Koushiro.

"Alright... well, take care of yourself too, Taichi. I'll send Hikari all the news about our trip. She can pass it on to you whenever you have a break from your training."

"Thanks... you too. And make sure to let me know when you're all getting back. By then, we all could probably be in for a good reunion meeting."

"That sounds like a perfect plan to me."

* * *

So it was done. Koushiro, Mimi and Sora were on their way to the airport. They'd be gone in a couple hours... Jou had already left and her brother was getting to work with the Hunters, so it felt as if nearly everything that was from the time before... from the war time, was coming to an end. There was only one matter left unresolved.

Hikari had spent the better part of the day hunting for Takeru, checking with his parents and others who might know his location. He hadn't fallen off the radar completely... though he wasn't involved in anything public, either. He'd been talking to Ken a lot lately, apparently going over technical data for something or other... new data-based tools, most likely. Things to keep them safe in the future, she hoped.

Eventually she caught him as he was leaving Ken's family's apartment. He didn't look overly surprised to see her, but he also didn't seem to be expecting her. It was strange to see him so... casual, so... in the moment. She was used to him planning every moment of every day well ahead of time. Now he was just taking everything as it came. She rather preferred him this way. Made him feel a lot less dark.

"Koushiro's leaving with Mimi and Sora in a couple hours."

He nodded and headed down the path toward the stairs as Hikari took her place beside him.

"I know."

"I don't suppose I could persuade you to come with me and say goodbye."

"I never even said _hello_."

Hikari's expression fell slightly. Even after weeks, he hadn't so much as spoken to any of them... do you intend to keep this up forever, Takeru? Sooner or later,_ you_ have to let go of the past, too...

"Well... what _else_ have you got to do? There's no war anymore... no one left for you to fight."

To Hikari's surprise, Takeru headed up the stairs instead of down. She wasn't sure why... there were only a couple floors above them, and no one else that she knew lived up there.

"There's always something else to fight... and I still know more about the digital world than most people. There's ways we can take advantage of that to save lives... and to make tools to protect people the next time some digimon tries to attack our world."

"But what about _you_? Is that all you're going to be doing now? R&D for the military to keep people safe? That doesn't seem like you..."

Silence. Takeru finished ascending the stairs and stepped out to the roof of the building, moving to a nearby railing to look out over the city he had helped save.

"I don't know. It's all I really _can_ do now. I never thought about what would come after the war ended. I never cared. It was enough just to keep fighting."

Hikari moved beside him as her partner hopped off her shoulder, climbing onto the railing between them. Reaching over, Hikari idly scratched under Gatomon's chin as she watched Takeru for a moment, trying to get a sense of what he was feeling. He was much less dark than he used to be, but... now he almost seemed lost. The darkness was what drove him before, and without that drive...

"Are you happy?"

He glanced over, giving her a questioning glance, as if he didn't even understand the question.

"About how it all turned out, I mean... the war. We won... but are you really happy with it?"

He paused for a moment, then he leaned forward and turned to look out toward the city again, losing himself in thought. It would be almost a full minute before he finally replied. It wasn't a simple question that she asked... and the answer was even more complex.

"I'm not _un_happy. We won and we stopped the war... that's all I ever really wanted. It doesn't fix anything that happened in the past, but... I beat him. It took me three long years... but at least I finally beat him. If that's all I get out of it, that's enough."

Hikari nodded, only to stop halfway as she realized that his words made no sense. Three years? That was since the first invasion. Myotismon wasn't there at the beginning-

Oh. Not Myotismon...

"You mean Devimon?"

Takeru nodded briefly, his gaze hardening toward the horizon as he did. On all the things he held inside, that was even worse than his grudge against the Digidestined. His hate for Devimon... for a moment Hikari had to step back from the rail, feeling slightly woozy as a familiar shift in the environment came about with the shift in his demeanor...

"Hikari?"

Gatomon recognized it first, after which Takeru promptly took notice. Fortunately, that distraction diverted Takeru's thoughts, freeing the atmosphere for Hikari and helping steady her.

"Ah... sorry. Just a little dizzy. It's happened a few times before..."

She muttered and glanced at Takeru, knowing he knew full well what she was talking about. He'd been there each and every time this had happened to her... well, except the first time. That time she had been listening to Yamato talk to his parents, though she had to wonder...

"That time... at the Hunter base, when I passed out... you were listening to the conversation, weren't you?"

Takeru paused again before nodding and half-turning away.

"For security reasons. Had to make sure the Digidestined didn't hear anything... compromising."

Hikari sighed and shook her head. Compromising... right. As if Masaharu would ever say anything like that. Or did he think _Hikari_ would have said something?

"It was you all along. Every single time... the darkness I felt... it was always coming from you."

"Well, I'm sorry that I don't have somewhere _else_ to direct it."

Takeru muttered, instinctively reaching for his digivice. His digimon partner... normally it was their link, but now with no partner to give his power to, it was a broken chain. Where his power went instead... he'd tried figuring out how the digivice worked in such a state, but even he hadn't been able to understand the science of it yet. All he knew was that darkness was attracted to light, which made Hikari the most susceptible to his moments of... brooding.

"Oh, shut up. I was just asking a question... I'd thought it caused by _everyone_ for a while."

Takeru was silent. He honestly wondered why Hikari still spent time around him knowing that he was naturally volatile and harmful to her. Whenever he got to thinking too hard of his past, the way she reacted... she was better staying far from him. Yet she stayed loyal, even now. Perhaps his only real friend. She hadn't even asked again about Myotismon's death since it first happened...

"But... Devimon. What did you mean you _beat_ him?"

Not very subtle change of topic, but whatever. Nothing much else they could say about his darkness anyway...

"You know as well I do that this whole thing started because of him... if that rift hadn't opened, the invasion never would have occurred. For all Etemon or Myotismon's strength, they would have never figured out how to open a rift to our world like that without his help... he killed Angemon, he started the war... he set us up to lose, and he almost succeeded. _Almost_... but we beat him. Whatever he intended for our world, he didn't get it, and like I said... if that's all I get out of the war, that's enough."

As Takeru spoke, Hikari gradually grew more and more uncomfortable. She was waiting... waiting for a word that never came. Something to indicate a greater master plan for everything. An understanding of Devimon's true intentions... but then it became clear that it wasn't coming. He... just like all the others, he had no idea what was really happening.

After a few seconds of silence Takeru glanced Hikari's way, noticing the shift in her mood. His brow furrowed in mixed confusion and concern.

"What?"

Dare she say it? She feared how he might react to this knowledge, and yet... part of her almost hoped those fears were well founded. To see him so lost was too unsettling to bear, yet the consequences if she gave him this information... what it might spark in the future... she feared him. She still did. The brilliance she admired was fueled by the darkness that she feared, and she knew she had to either accept them together, or reject them both...

"That... wasn't what Devimon was after."

A pause. It took a moment for Takeru's brain to register those words. What he had understood for the past three years... and she was telling him he had been wrong all along.

"_What_?"

"I... when we ran away in the digital world... when we went to File Island to hide, I... I went to Infinity Mountain. I met a digimon there, named Ogremon."

The change in Takeru's demeanor at hearing that name was immediate and distinct. _Ogremon_... that bastard was still _alive_? The peak explodes, both Angemon and Devimon are killed, and somehow he _survives_? How the hell...

"He said... Devimon's plans were different. He wasn't after conquest or war, he wanted something else. Something involving... Angemon. And... he wasn't trying to kill you, Takeru. He... he actually wanted you to _live_."

Hikari could see in Takeru's eyes something starting to snap. All this time he had been fighting to get his revenge against Devimon, to undo his plans... Etemon, Myotismon... and all that was... that's what the demon _wanted_? All this time, he'd been HELPING him?

"Are you _certain_? Are you absolutely _POSITIVE_ this is true?"

Hikari instinctively took a step back as Takeru, eyes now wild with anger and intensity, took one step toward her. Gatomon very nearly took an aggressive pose, but she refrained for her partner's sake. Negotiation... don't start a fight. Hikari wouldn't want that.

"I was there with her. I heard every word."

Hikari nodded quickly, taking advantage of the moment to speak again, trying to calm Takeru as best she could. She'd seen him at his worst, and she didn't want to witness that again. Please, Takeru... keep her head on. Don't let yourself lose it...

"I have a journal... I had Koushiro make it for me. Right after I went there, I wrote down _everything_ that Ogremon told me, including bunch of details I can't remember now. You can look at it all yourself."

That helped... he calmed a bit. Less manic, though no less intense. His Katsu instincts were taking over again.

"Show me."

Then the dread came again. What would he do once he saw them... she didn't expect any sudden outbursts, but how would he react to knowing all that she had learned. Where would his dangerous, angry focus turn to next...?

She needed a way to stop him. To control him... but she had no idea if that was even possible. He could still out think and out plan her easily... unless she had some way of predicting how he was going to act before he did so...

"Alright... meet me tomorrow morning, at the roof of your family's apartment building. I'll bring it to you."

Without giving Takeru much chance to reply, she motioned to Gatomon, who hopped back up onto her shoulder. She knew he'd want to see it sooner, but no... she needed time to think, and fortunately, she had an excuse...

"I'm going to catch up to everyone at the airport to say goodbye before their plane leaves... you sure you don't want to go with me?"

Takeru paused, somewhat perturbed that she was delaying this for a simple goodbye to friends... but very well. Her choice. Tomorrow morning wasn't _too_ long off, all things considered...

"No... even if I went, there'd be too much to say for a simple goodbye. I'll wait until they get back."

He muttered and she simply nodded, having expected that kind of answer. She quickly turned to leave, rushing downstairs to get a ride to the airport to say goodbye to her friends... and also to give herself time to think of a way to stop Katsu... Takeru, whatever. She preferred to think of Katsu as his darker side, and Takeru as the hopeful boy who fought to protect everyone... she knew there wasn't nearly such a stark dividing line between the two, but it was more encouraging than being forced to face what he really was all the time.

So, Hikari would think... and in time, before their next meeting, a plan would indeed form. Not perfect... but certainly better than nothing.

* * *

"Is that it?"

Takeru muttered as Hikari moved over to the railing where he sat waiting for her. She held the journal tight in her hands, careful to make sure it didn't get snatched away. She nodded, moving close but not so close that he could easily grab it. As he stood, she took a half-step back, somewhat wary.

"It is. But I have a... condition for giving this to you."

He narrowed his eyes. A _condition_. He knew the way he thought... heck, he'd helped _teach_ her to think that way in the first place, so this reeked of a plot. But then, what did he care? The journal was the only thing that mattered to him at that moment. Whatever she demanded, it would likely be easy to give.

"Name it."

"I want... to know how you... _died_."

A pause, and Takeru raised an eyebrow. How he _died_? His death had been faked multiple times...

"After the battle. When you came back to this world and... everything after that. How you became 'Katsu'. How you got to know Ken and Wizardmon... how you managed to rig all the Hunter buildings for Rogue Protocol. All of it... I want to know the rest of the story. Promise me you'll tell me everything, and the journal's yours."

Hikari was somewhat pleased to find no realization flash across Takeru's eyes at her request. He didn't understand why she wanted this sort of thing, and that was good... ignorance was best for now. Besides, this was merely a... safety measure, anyway. To learn the inner workings of the brilliant boy's mind... if she could get in there and truly understand him, then perhaps, if things went bad in the future, she could predict what he was going to do and find some way to stop him.

"Alright."

Takeru turned and promptly sat back down at the edge of the railing, earning a surprised blink from Hikari.

"Wait... _now_?"

"Well, what _else_ have you got to do?"

Hm... touche. Alright then... Hikari moved beside Takeru to sit down, handing the journal to him as she did. He took it and placed it aside, then leaned his head back and closed his eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath as he began recalling everything that had transpired, from those very first moments.

"Let's start from the beginning, then... at Infinity Mountain."


	22. Book Zero: The Fall

A/N: I briefly considered writing Book Zero from a first pderson perspecttttive, bjt u rgiyfgr sal,. 4ff..f.q..w...bvcbKoBpjs Xvb...

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Chapter UNKNOWN: Between the Cracks

"**Hope has many faces, too."**

Time: The near future. Exact time unspecified.

Place: Unspecified.

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Pain. Everything was pain.

The figure shifted his body about, his mind barely breaking through the haze of agony enough to move his arms, raising one hand to clutch his forehead.

Pain... everything was pain.

He groaned, shifting his body about slowly, trying to regain some sense of... anything. He couldn't even feel his surroundings. Hot or cold, hard or soft... the pain blinded him to all else.

He could move, albeit barely... it didn't make the pain worse, but it didn't make it better, either. It wasn't his body... not his body alone. His body, heart, mind... it felt as if he had been torn to pieces and put back together a dozen times over. He barely recognized himself anymore, even in his own thoughts.

What the hell had happened to him?

"Well... good morning, sunshine."

He groaned, twisted, and finally turned his head to face the voice. His vision was blurry, but he could see... a... a bowling ball? A bowling ball with wings... what?

"Welcome back to the land of the living."

"What... happened?"

"Isn't it obvious from my overly dramatic, failed-to-be-cryptic words? You died."

"I... what?"

He struggled, forcing himself to sit up, though the sudden motion sent a shock of pain tearing through his skull, forcing him to his hands and knees once more.

"Whoa, whoa... easy there, glitter-gums. You just came back. Your body is still trying to figure out who it is again. Don't rush it."

He grunted and groaned, holding his position for another full minute before he tried to speak again. Speaking didn't make the pain worse, but after what he'd just felt in his head, he wasn't going to take any chances...

"What happened to me...?"

"What do you remember?"

"...nothing."

"Try _harder_."

If not for the blinding pain still reverberating through every nerve of his body, he'd probably be annoyed at the flying... whatever he was. However, the cryptic words gave him something to focus on other than the pain so, frustrating or not, it was a welcome distraction.

Try... think... remember... what did he remember? There was... walls. Dark walls, dark rooms. Dark everything. Was that death? No... but it felt like death. Not real death, though. Just the face of it. There was...

"A castle..."

"And?"

Figures... faces... so many enemies, but also friends. And... children. Children were there. Enemies? Yes, the children were his enemies- no, wait. Friends... allies. Enemies of... enemies? Was he... were they working together? What were they...

"The rift..."

"Bingo. Got it on your second try, too. That's pretty good."

"I... what?"

Got what? The rift... was the rift important? But why? It... he didn't make it to the rift. There was something... something in the way. A barrier. What... who...

He tried to sit up again and pain tore through his mind once more, though not as severely as before. Falling again, he'd catch himself this time and slowly make another attempt. Inch by inch, he forced himself back until he was fully upright, sitting on his knees.

"Stubborn, ain't ya? That's good, though... probably the reason you survived."

"Survived... what? I still can't..."

"Think, boyo. I'm not gonna spell it all out for you. You gotta use your own noggin. Exercise those neurons... gotta get back to your old self."

Think... think of what? There was the rift, the castle, the... the... children. The barrier... the children that stood in his way. Enemies, friends... they trapped him there, leaving him to die... enemies. Rivals. Yet he wasn't angry... no, he remembered. He was happy... he didn't lose. He was...

"I was... laughing."

"Yeah, that sounds like something you'd do... you always were a bit of a chucklenut."

"And then... the rift... the castle... it collapsed. It fell. And then..."

And then nothing. Nothing but pain, and then he awoke. Between those moments, there was nothing _to_ recall. It was as if it never happened... yet the pain that still lingered strong in his body told him that couldn't be true.

"The castle's pocket dimension collapsed and imploded. Everything in it fell into the rift, but never made it to the human world."

The rift... the gateway between worlds. But if it never made it to the _human_ world...

"You were lost. You fell into the void between realities."

He blinked. The void... but he... no, wait... what? How was that possible?

"How did I... why am I..."

"Because the universe runs a tight ship. Stuff isn't supposed to exist in the spaces between. Most everything that falls there is erased."

"But... I survived..."

"Because you're _alive_. Bricks and statues are erased easily enough, but there's more to you than that... you think, you feel... you have a mind, will, and _soul_. Those are lot harder to destroy, so you kept falling and got ground between the proverbial gears of reality for a bit. After it failed to turn you into cosmic meatloaf, you eventually slipped between the cracks and were spat back into normal reality... _here_."

"Where... where is _here_...?"

"The place where all the lost things get found... but that doesn't matter. What matters is you're back. How do you feel?"

"...like living hell."

"Eh... one of the side effects of dying. You'll get used to it if it happens to you enough. Can you move?"

"I... think so."

He shifted back a bit more, not quite able to fully stand yet, but he could stretch his arms and legs a bit, getting used to... used to...

What the _hell_?

His hands... his arms, legs, feet... his whole body... he... this wasn't him. What _happened_ to him?

"Ah, I see you've noticed your upgrade..."

"My... what? What are you _talking_ about?"

"You weren't the only one who fell between worlds, sparkle-butt."

He paused to think for a moment. Not the only... wait... Datamon. Datamon was still there... at least his broken body was. Pieces of him... they were there and fell into the rift along with him.

"What happened to me?"

"Well, your little buddy was in pieces when he fell into the rift, so there wasn't enough left of him to survive the cosmic blender... but he was alive, like you, so when he was mashed up between the gears, his data mingled with yours."

"Datamon is... a part of me?"

"Not exactly. Datamon's dead, but his pieces were left over. Those pieces had to end up somewhere... so you got a little cybernetic upgrade. All the hardware, none of the software... all things considered, I'd say you got a pretty good deal."

Upgrade... yes. He could feel it. His mind wasn't the same as before. Everything was faster. Clearer. The random thoughts and compulsions he used to feel were kept under much stronger control. What before he struggled to understand was now crystal clear. So... _this_ was what it felt like to think like a computer. As much as he may have hated Datamon, he had to admit that this change was... appealing.

Even so, it was also a tad confusing. Datamon may have been dead, but there were still lingering pieces of him inside his mind. Tiny voices, ideas... memories that came as brief glimpses only to fade back into nothing again. He wasn't Datamon... but he wasn't quite his old self anymore, either.

"So... who am I now?"

"Whoever you want to be. I can't spell your future out for you. But if you need a name, I'd say... NanoEtemon."

Hmm... not bad. Quick, clean, and simple, yet it got the point across. Efficient... he liked efficient now. Shifting his cybernetic gaze across toward one side, he took another look at the figure, now able to see him much more clearly than before. A little round, winged demon... he seemed vaguely familiar, but he couldn't tell from where.

"And who are _you_?"

The demon bared his fangs in a wide, toothy grin. A grin that spoke of untold deviousness, yet also... opportunity.

"I... am your new best frienddddd..,.';,,',.'"

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A/N: I briefly considered writing Book Zero from a first person perspective, but I thought better of it. I'm more skilled at the third-person perspective I've been working from so far... so, while I may experiment with first-person stories at another time, I'm going to stick with my strengths for now.

**Digital Hazard – Book Zero: Fallen Angel**

Chapter 1: The Fall

**You want to believe that there's one relationship in life that's beyond betrayal. A relationship that's beyond that kind of hurt. And there isn't.**

They couldn't wait.

Koushiro insisted on going back to tell everyone what was happening, but Takeru refused. The moment he realized what Devimon was doing, he knew it had to be stopped here. If he got back to the human world, all their friends, their families...

No! They'd stop him, right here, right now. Koushiro went back to warn the others. To get help. With Kabuterimon, it should only take a few minutes to get there and bring everyone back to Infinity Mountain, but even that would be too long. Shortly after he left the rift was already starting to crackle into existence, and though Takeru was young, he wasn't stupid. They needed a distraction. They had to slow Devimon down long enough for everyone to get there to help him.

So... they went up. Takeru and Patamon climbed the last incline on the mountain, bringing the demon into full view as he stood, arms outstretched at either side of his body, channeling the power that was opening a gateway between worlds.

"DEVIMON!"

The shout caught the devil's attention, drawing his eyes down toward the boy and his digimon... and he smiled. It was a hungry, ravenous smile. The smile of a monster imagining how he was going to feast on the blood of his enemies...

"Perfect. Just in time... for my triumph."

Devimon drove one hand forward suddenly, into the stream of energy that was crackling before him, and his claws seemed to tear through the space before him, fingers disappearing as they plunged into nothingness. Then he began drawing his hand down, that claw tearing open reality before him and widening the rift he had just created.

Takeru watched in horror. He was... he succeeded. He already succeeded. Now he could... NO! No, you WON'T get to the human world! _I WON'T LET YOU!_

"Takeru!"

Patamon's shout caught the boy's attention and he saw the intensity in the digimon's eyes. He nodded. Now or never. No running away this time!

Takeru grabbed his digivice and made a wish. Only one thing he wanted in that moment... stop Devimon. Somehow, please... just let Devimon be stopped _somehow_...

The device responded, and the light that exploded from it blinded everyone on the peak for a few moments as the power engulfed Patamon and transformed him. The next Takeru looked, standing before him was a massive angel, as tall and imposing as Devimon himself, carrying a long golden rod.

By the time Takeru's vision had cleared enough to see again, already the two were caught in a struggle for their lives. Devimon's clawed hands had caught Angemon's weapon just above his head, stopping it from hitting its mark. He shoved back, sending Angemon reeling back for a moment, long enough for him to dive forward and swipe one clawed hand across Angemon's face.

Angemon retaliated, driving his fist into Devimon's gut with a burst of light energy behind it, sending Devimon reeling back in turn from the severity of the blow. He then swung his rod sideways as if to take off the demon's head but he once again caught it in one hand, promptly extending his other to unleash a blast of dark energy at the angel's chest.

The battle was not clean and swift like many of the Digidestined's past victories... no quick finishing blow immediately after a digimon's evolution. It was just a pure brawl. Rarely was there a blow that didn't find its mark as neither one dodged, instead taking the other's attacks in stride and hitting back twice as hard.

Within a minute, Angemon was covered in vicious claw marks and Devimon struggled to stand fully upright through the pain brought by the combined brunt force of Angemon's punches and the occasional hits he managed to land with his rod.

And yet the other children were nowhere in sight... what were they _doing_?

And so the fight continued. Angemon attempted to impale Devimon in the gut only to have his weapon caught yet again. The demon pulled, attempting to throw Angemon off-balance to strike at his face once more, but this time he was expecting that kind of tactic... when he apparently stumbled forward, he reached ahead to seize Devimon's wrist as he lashed out, steadying himself and locking his stance to hold the demon in place.

And there they would remain, each with one hand fighting for the hold of Angemon's staff, and the other fighting the other's grip directly. This was exactly what Angemon wanted... a delay. They needed time. This struggle would keep them both still for a time and buy the other children time to arrive. Even though it became clear after a brief time that Devimon had the advantage in strength, Angemon didn't release even as he was slowly being forced back toward the edge of the peak. Come on... closer. They just needed time.

The problem was that they had plenty of time already. More than enough time for the children to get here if Koushiro was as rushed as he seemed. By the time Angemon reached the edge of the peak it was clear to both him and Takeru that something was wrong. The children shouldn't be taking this long at all... were they delayed? Wait... where was Ogremon? Had he gotten to them first and stopped them somehow?

As Angemon's feet reached the cliff he kicked off it, throwing himself off the edge and nearly pulling Devimon along with him until he released the angel's rod. Angemon quickly caught himself in the air and flew back over his foe, landing near Takeru before turning about to face the demon again.

As Devimon turned to meet them once more, he noticed it... the fear. The doubt. Angemon's eyes were concealed by his mask, but Takeru's were not, and his eyes spoke of everything within him. At that, Devimon bared his teeth in a vicious grin, knowing his chance had finally arrived.

"Your friends are not coming."

Angemon shifted back into a battle-ready pose, determined not to be shaken, but Takeru was not so resolute.

"What did you _do_?"

Devimon laughed, forcing himself to straighten up fully as he drew his arms wide to either side. Overly dramatic? Sure... but if the boy was buying into it, then it served a good purpose...

"What is there that I _must_ do? I would have gladly invited them to witness my triumph along with you... they are not here because they ran away, for fear that they would fall as easily as they did in our last battle."

Ran...? No. No! Not Taichi, he was _fearless_! Not Koushiro, he promised he'd return with help! Not Yamato... not his own brother.

"You're lying!"

"No, boy... I do not _need_ to lie, for the truth is far worse than any deception I could conjure. If you don't believe me, ask your comrade. Tell me, Angemon... what are you going to do now? With no one to come to your aid, do you truly think you can defeat me alone?"

Angemon was silent. Takeru kept waiting for him to say something to counter Devimon's words, but nothing came. He didn't want to accept it... come on, Angemon, you _know_ he's lying! There's no way that they'd... no... there's... no way...

"Takeru..."

Angemon muttered, shifting his gaze back to the boy for a moment as his pose tensed slightly. He was anxious... he didn't know what would happen after this, but... they'd made a promise. They had to defeat Devimon. He couldn't allow himself to fail.

"I'm sorry."

'You will just have to make do without my protection from here on...'

Sighing, Angemon rushed forward, throwing his fist at Devimon's face, only to have his blow deflected. The demon countered with his own clawed hand, but this time the angel was ready. As his claw neared its target, his arm was struck suddenly by Angemon's rod as he flipped it up suddenly from underneath the demon's view. The blow was swift and hard, and the sound of the crack from the impact was audible even at Takeru's distance... as well as to others that were watching from nearby.

Devimon's arm fell to his side, hanging limp and useless. Not bad, angel... you are certainly providing a worthy challenge before my ultimate triumph...

However, Angemon wasn't finished. Stepping back, he drew up his rod, holding it vertically in both hands as he concentrated his power into it. After a few moments it began to dissolve into a wave of shimmering golden energy that was drawn in between his palms.

The shock in Devimon's eyes was apparent as he realized just what Angemon was planning. Truly... well then, he had only one choice.

The devil raised his good arm and summoned to him all the dark power he could. From all about the base of the mountain, dozens of black gears rose to gather in the palm of his hand, each dissolving into black energy and feeding him their power for his final blow.

Both angel and demon gathered all their power for their final assaults, pouring even their own lives into this decisive moment. Each had a mission... a goal they absolutely refused to let slip from their grasp. Even at the cost of their lives, they were both determined to succeed, so in that final moment there was absolutely nothing held back.

Feeling the rising pressure of both attacks preparing to be unleashed, Ogremon knew his time had come. Jumping up to the peak from a ledge that hung just below, he ran forward into the fray, grabbing Takeru suddenly from behind. The brute easily lifted him into the air with one hand and ran toward the rift.

"Takeru!"

Angemon caught sight of him and nearly stopped his attack to save his partner, and yet at the last moment he refrained as he realized... the rift. Takeru would return to the human world, and whatever happened here wouldn't... what? Why was he... Devimon, just what are you _planning_?

The demon smiled wider as he finished gathering his power. No answer to be given. All would have to discover the answer on their own, in time. Very well... then let's be finished with this, here and now...

"Nice knowin' ya, kid!"

Ogremon muttered as he reached the rift, throwing the boy in with all his strength. The energy bleeding out of it seemed to resist him for a moment, but the force of the throw was strong enough that he broke though that threshold quickly and was soon being sucked into the depths of the space between worlds.

As he fell in, he could see in the distance as the world warped around him, revealing more to his eyes than he might normally see. The angel and devil, both striking as one, pouring all that they were into that cataclysmic moment... no matter which was stronger, both had burned up all their life force in that attack, and both would perish regardless of the outcome...

"_**ANGEMOOOOOOOOOON!"**_

* * *

Takeru's eyes snapped open suddenly as a familiar feeling struck his chest and he had to pause for a moment to steady his shallow breathing. Just like every morning as he awoke from his nightmares, that voice... that boy's final, desperate call... it haunted him, both sleeping and waking...

"Takeru?"

His eyes shifted to Hikari and he quickly averted his gaze once more to steady himself, realizing he had stopped abruptly as he spoke of Ogremon throwing him into the rift.

"Sorry."

He muttered, taking a few more moments to finish calming himself before he turned back to face her again. He slipped one hand under his leg, pinning it to the concrete roof of the building to forcefully stop it from trembling, though more than likely Hikari had already noticed it on her own. Yet he made no mention of it, instead quickly finding a place to pick the story back up...

* * *

Silence.

The rift refused to take him back. Takeru had tried to force his way back through and into the digital world as soon as he emerged, but he could not... the rift resisted him. It forced him to remain. The strength of the ogre had been enough to force him through the threshold and into the human world, but he was just a child... he didn't have the strength to make it back on his own.

Silence.

Takeru didn't leave. He stayed at the rift for hours, trying again and again to force his way through. Waiting for someone to emerge... one of the friends who failed to appear during the battle.

But nothing came. No one... even now, those who had failed to come to his friend's aid against Devimon were nowhere in sight...

The realization and the reality of his situation slowly settled upon his mind as night began to fall. As the light faded from the world, it faded also from within him... betrayal. They had betrayed him. Abandoned him and Angemon both, leaving them to die. He had only survived by a freak accident, a mistake of Ogremon's... the monster had tried to kill him and instead had saved him, and had utterly failed to save his master in the process...

Eventually, once night had fallen, he turned to depart, making his way toward the nearest visible light source. Could be people... people, buildings, or something of the sort. Didn't matter. He just needed to find something. He wasn't going to get help from the others anymore, so he had to make his own way.

When he reached the light he was disappointed to find it wasn't what he had expected. Street lights... some rural road. Still nobody in sight.

Not knowing which direction would lead him to people sooner, he simply picked a direction at random and began following the road that way, following it for a couple hours before fatigue finally began catching up with him.

And so, he went to the base of a tree near the road and settled down to sleep. His night was dreamless, devoid of sight or sound. A rare thing... normally he was a boy who dreamt every night, but that night... that one, he saw only darkness. That night, everything was numb.

He was awoken by the sound of voices. People talking. Who...? He didn't know those voices. Wait... maybe he did. As he opened his eyes he glanced about, spotting a semi-familiar face. That man... he'd seen him before. Where...

"Takeru. You're Takeru Takaishi, aren't you?"

He nodded. Who was this guy? How did he know... wait, the camp. He was the teacher. The teacher of the older kids, from their school. He was in charge of the camp. That's right... camp. They had been there before they went to the digital world.

"Are you okay? What are you doing out here? Where are the others?"

Others... the other kids.

"Gone."

The teacher looked confused for a second, then his face changed to... what was that? Fear?

"Were you all _attacked_?"

Attacked? Yes... lots of times. But that didn't seem to be what the teacher was implying.

"Attacked?"

Takeru slowly stood, still numb in his heart and mind, and now weak in body from his lack of food since... how long had it been? He had lost track of the time since the fight happened.

"There was some kind of... _monster_ that appeared and started attacking people at the camp! We're lucky most of the kids had been sent home already, but some of you disappeared and... were you nearby when the attack happened? Was anybody _hurt_?"

"I hope so."

Takeru found himself muttering without even thinking about it as his eyes averted toward the nearby car. He heard the man say some things, but he wasn't paying attention. Instead he promptly turned and walked toward the car, his mind far from anything that the teacher was saying.

"Do you have any food?"

"Any... um, yes, I guess so. Are you hungry? When was the last time you ate?"

"I don't remember."

Once again Takeru stopped hearing the man's words once it was clear that he was going to get food for the boy. He didn't care what was said or done. None of that mattered. Nothing did anymore. Everything they'd been fighting for, his friends, his digmon partner, his... destiny...

Nothing mattered anymore. Now all he could do was survive.

Time passed. He got in the car to be taken back toward home. More questions came, but he stopped answering. Not like anyone would believe him about the digital world anyway. Eventually he reached Odaiba where he was taken to a school. Older kids' school. Yamato and Taichi's, probably. More people came. More questions. Didn't matter.

Finally, there came a voice he recognized from the next room. Then another. Mom... dad... people he knew. People he trusted. Trusted like... Yamato. Family. Could he trust _them_ anymore, either?

"I don't know. I'm sorry, ma'am, we've tried talking to him, but he's not answering. He seems traumatized. We think he may have been nearby for the attack, but..."

"Did he say anything about his brother?"

His dad asking. Of course... Yamato lived with their dad.

"No... we asked about the attack, about the other kids that went missing with him, but... well, we asked him if any of them had been hurt, and all he said was... 'I hope so.'"

"_**WHAT?**_"

His mother. He knew that tone. She was scared. A moment later she rushed into the room, followed by his dad. Their look was the same. They were both scared. Why? He wasn't hurt.

"Takeru! Are you _okay_?"

He was about to say yes, but the words didn't come. He simply stared at her, trying to speak before he finally stopped and forced himself to think about it. Okay? Was he _okay_? Angemon was dead. His friends had abandoned him... betrayed _both_ of them. Yamato, too. He'd lost the fight, lost the war... Devimon succeeded in opening the rift. Was he... _'okay'_?

"No."

She grabbed and hugged him. He felt... comfort? No. No, nothing... he couldn't feel. It hurt. Even the comfort hurt. The cold... the dark... it was his friend. When the pain came, the numbness was the only thing that protected him.

He couldn't hug her back. He just lingered in her embrace until she set him back now. She started speaking, asking something, but he blocked her out. Don't talk to me. Don't. Stay away from me. It hurts... let me stay on the inside.

Eventually, his parents left again. More words. More voices. Others, but he didn't care who. Then silence... then they returned, and this time his father came to him and scooped him up in his arms to carry him out of the room.

Time passed. People moved. Eventually he found himself somewhere... an apartment, but not his home. His confusion was enough to open his mind for a moment to listen. His parents talking, his dad telling his mom where things were... his dad's apartment. His... brother's apartment.

"_NO!_"

Takeru broke out of his father's arms and ran, heading for the door and then outside. Not there... no, not _that_ place. They followed, of course, but when tried to catch and stop him he started flailing, eventually breaking free again until they let go, eventually settled back against the wall and curling up into a tight ball.

"Not there! _He_ was there! I don't want to be anywhere he was!"

"Wh... what? Takeru, what are you _talking_ about?"

His mother tried to draw close but he pushed away again, forcing himself back along the floor. Then his dad reached forward to grab her arm, holding her back.

"Yamato. You mean Yamato."

Takeru nodded sharply, trying to hold everything in. Trying to... forget. The dark, the cold... where are you? I need you again. It hurts too much...

"Why don't you want to be where Yamato was?"

"HE LIED!"

Both of his parents recoiled slightly by the intensity of his reaction, even as he curled up again, even tighter than before as he felt the pain...

"HE SAID HE'D BE THERE! THEY ALL DID! THEY LIED! THEY _RAN AWAY!_ THEY SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE, THEY should have... they..."

He couldn't even describe what it felt like. It was... _he_ was... dying. Just like Angemon...

"_**THEY**__ SHOULD HAVE DIED! NOT __**HIM!**_"

Then he broke. Everything came out. The tears, the pain... he couldn't hold it in any longer and there was nothing left to hold him together. The world was dead to him. Nothing mattered anymore. They were all heroes... and they failed. Heroes were a lie. The optimistic dreams of a child... of knights in shining armor and heroes slaying dragons and demons... everything he'd once thought of as good and right was gone. It didn't exist anymore... it _never_ existed. Everything he once believed in was a lie.

He felt his mother scooping him up to move him and for a moment he resisted until he felt himself moving back. Away from the apartment... away from his brother. So he didn't fight. Yes. Get me away from that place. I don't want anything to do with that lie.

He didn't remember how he got home. He only remembered the pain. Tears. Next he knew he was in bed and it was dark outside. There was noise in the next room... sounded like a TV. Commercials or some such.

Takeru moved to sit up, reeling from the sharp pain as he did so. For a moment he almost worried that he might have gotten injured. It felt like he broke something in his head from the severity of the headache. Clutching his head, he felt... dampness? He was crying. The tears hadn't dried yet. How long had he been crying?

He was snotty, too. His sheets were a mess. His mom would probably be upset about that... wouldn't she? Maybe. He didn't know anymore. He used to believe a lot of things that weren't true.

He slowly forced himself to stand and walk toward the door, opening it to the light in the living room and the bright light which caused him to recoil back. Too bright. Ow... it took a minute for his eyes to adapt enough to step out to see his mom and... his dad was here? He was never here. They were sitting on the couch, side-by-side. That was... different.

"Takeru?"

His mother spoke up first, standing as she saw him step out.

"I need to wash my hands."

She blinked, confused. That wasn't the first thing she expected to hear from him, but she went to the kitchen sink anyway and started the water since he wasn't tall enough to reach it on his own.

"What's wrong?"

"Snot."

He muttered and her expression changed as she helped him up. She understood. Once his hands were clean she set him back down and went to washing his face a bit to get rid of the crusty, salty stains on his cheeks.

"My bed's a mess, too."

"It's already. I'll take care of that. How are you feeling?"

He paused. How was he... feeling? He wasn't sure he was feeling anything. The tears were gone, leaving only a hole. He didn't feel numb anymore, but he didn't feel anything else, either. He was just... hollow.

"Hungry."

That sounded familiar. It didn't seem like any time at all that he'd asked for food from the teacher, and now again. His mother nodded and stood to... oh, she was getting his dad's attention. Then she went off to his room while his dad started getting some food ready for him.

The rest of the night passed quickly. No more questions or words came. They simply took care of his needs, leaving him alone to ponder everything that had happened. Food, a bath... eventually he found his way back to his bed as the evening came to an end.

"Takeru... do you want to talk?"

"No."

The answer came immediately and instinctively. He didn't want to be angry at his mom... he loved her. He loved both his parents, and he knew... they were still here. They hadn't run away. Heroes were a lie, but family was not. At least, he didn't _think_ so. But even so... he couldn't talk about this.

That night, the darkness came for him. The first of many nightmares, of seeing the face of the demon, of hearing his voice... of hearing his own scream tear through his heart and mind and forcing him awake once more.

Daylight. He was shaking. Angemon... the pain, the loss, the anger... it felt like it was burning a hole in his chest. He couldn't move... he merely sat, rolling into a ball, holding himself tight as if trying to keep himself from falling apart. Eventually, the pain began to fade and he could move again... but the fire was still there, and it still hurt...

He tried to feign life, but his mother could see through him. She saw the reality of what he was and what was happening to his heart. He was merely going through the motions, not actually living...

That night his father came back. Huh... again. Another surprise. He sat on his bed, listening as they spoke in the living room about things at his work. Problems. They didn't matter. None of it mattered anymore...

The days began to pass in a colorless blur. One into the next... day into night, night into day. Time lost all meaning in the gray. He saw only vague images... blurry patterns of words and actions.

His parents were together again. Talking, spending time together that they didn't before. More and more trouble came to his father's workplace... the TV station was a mess. People were panicking. Bad things were happening... monsters were attacking. People were starting to die, but they couldn't fight back. The weapons they had didn't work.

Takeru knew what they were. Digimon. But he couldn't help. His partner was gone, he had no power to defend anyone anymore... and the other children had betrayed the world. They were not going to appear to help. The world was on its own now.

Sometime later... maybe a week? Maybe two? Maybe it was just a couple days... it all felt the same to him until something broke through the monotony and the gray to rouse him somewhat from his internal death.

_Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep._

He knew that sound. Not a phone... not a computer. Something else. What was it? He couldn't remember...

"Takeru."

His mother approached, holding something in her hand... a digivice. _His_ digivice. He'd all but forgotten that he still had it with him when he got home... as she held it out to him, he saw that it was the thing that was beeping. That was it... the sound he knew from the digital world. But why was it beeping? There was a blinking red light on it, but... he didn't know what it meant.

He took the digivice and looked at it... it was moving toward them. The light... an enemy? No, it was too close. People would have heard about it by now. There would have been screams and panic, but there was nothing.

Takeru simply sat and thought, seeing the light getting closer, unsure of what it meant... and he didn't realize the answer until a sudden banging came at their door. As his mother went to answer, he felt something in him... a stirring of something oddly familiar. And then when the door opened to reveal the face of a dark-haired child, no older than him... that feeling began rising even more.

"You have to help!"

He shouted and Takeru blinked. Help? Help what? His mother had the same thought, kneeling down as his father went to the door as well, equally confused.

"Help what? What's going on?"

"The monsters! You have to help stop the monsters!"

They froze, both dumbstruck by this sudden arrival... a boy they didn't even know. And in the silence that followed, they both spotted it... the device in his hand. The very same as one they'd seen only a few moments before in another boy's hand.

"I... I brought them here... I made this happen. Now people are dying and I... I just wanted a way to stop them. I wished for a way, and this... it started beeping. I wished for it and it pointed me here, so you're the only ones... you have to help stop the monsters! Please!"

Both parents were silent as they slowly turned back to face the boy that stood across from them all in the living room.

What _was_ this? A new child? A new _destiny_? The first children had failed... so was the universe now starting again? And sending this boy to Takeru... for what? To learn from the mistakes they made the first time?

Takeru asked his parents to bring the boy in, though they weren't able to talk right away. His mother insisted on getting the boy to call his parents and tell them where he was, for their sake. Then there was the matter of the boy himself, who had apparently been running for several miles to reach them and was utterly exhausted.

Thus, with the assurance that Takeru would help, the boy – named Ken – was compelled to stop and just rest for a minute while Takeru's parents got some food for him. Meanwhile, Takeru himself sat at the TV, watching the reports that he had paid no attention to before... talk about the monsters. The attacks. Things that didn't matter before the boy had arrived.

Then the parents arrived and Takeru turned to meet them, immediately noticing something about them that was... off. Askew. There was a familiar wrongness in them that seemed like a mirror of his own mind. Even as Ken's mom grabbed him, half hysterical from the apparent fear of losing him, Takeru turned his eyes up to the father.

"Who died?"

From anyone else the question might have come out sounding rude or sarcastic, but there was no emotion in Takeru's voice to carry with it. His question was entirely literal and direct.

"Takeru, don't-"

"The monsters killed someone. Who?"

He cut off his mother as soon as she tried to speak. His question wasn't to her, and while he respected her opinion on a great many things... not this. She didn't know about the digimon. She didn't know about death and betrayal... not like he did.

Ken's parents, for their part, were shocked. That such a young boy and a total stranger could figure that out so quickly was simply stunning. But more so was what they saw in the boy's eyes. He didn't look like a child anymore... in some ways, he looked older and more worn than either of _them_.

"Osamu... my brother. He died and it's _my fault_! I brought the-"

"Ken! Stop, you're not-"

"Tell me."

Takeru interrupted again, this time cutting off Ken's mother. Ken was saying something he didn't understand, and he needed to know... he said he brought the monsters, but that was impossible, as far as he knew. Either the boy was wrong or Takeru didn't know everything that was really happening. Either way, one of them had a few things to learn...

* * *

"How was Ken responsible?"

"He wasn't. He simply thought he was."

"Why?"

"Because he _wished_ for it. Osamu was a genius, and Ken envied him for that. When they found the digivice – Osamu's digivice – and Ken tried to use it, his brother punished him... and Ken wished that his brother would disappear. Then, shortly after that... the digimon attacks started, and Osamu was one of the first people killed."

Silence. Hikari had never known... not even suspected that Ken or his family had suffered a loss like that in the past. Though it made a sort of sense... why Ken was so devoted to stopping Myotismon and the other invaders. Like Takeru, they had cost him something dear, and he was going to make them pay for it, and also make sure nobody else suffered the same loss he had.

"What did you tell him?"

"I told him he was wrong. Then I told him why..."

"How much?"

"Everything. Digimon, the digital world, File Island, Devimon... and the traitors. I told them all the whole story."

* * *

Takeru lost track of how much time he spent talking. Hours, probably. He filled them in on every last detail, from the digivices to the digimon, from the gears to Devimon... and especially the rift. The true source of the digimon.

Then... silence. Takeru hadn't shed even a single tear as he retold the tale of betrayal and loss, and then out of fear of respect, nobody spoke a word... even as they sympathized for him, Takeru could see he also scared them. The way he reacted was so different than any other child... different than even most adults, so they didn't know how to respond to him.

Thus it fell on Takeru to break the silence. He'd clearly laid out for Ken the reason why he wasn't responsible for his brother's death... it had been Devimon, and those that failed to stop him that were truly to blame... now for the next step. The part that Takeru had abandoned before Ken arrived.

"The digidestined aren't coming to save us. We have to stop the monsters ourselves."

"_How?_"

Silence once more. Takeru's eyes shifted from Ken to the boy's parents, then to his own before going back to the table.

"I don't know. I never had to fight on my own before... but I'll find a way. I'm the only one who can."

Takeru looked down at his digivice, staring at it for several seconds in quiet contemplation.

"Go home. I'll take care of the monsters from now on."

He didn't wait for them to acknowledge him. He simply stood and walked back to his room, closing the door behind him and moving to lie down on his bed. For a time he was simply silent in mind and body, trying to think of some way to fix this. He had nothing to use... no friends, no weapons... he was powerless. How was he supposed to be able to fight off the invaders like _this_?

He needed help. He needed... _something_! Reaching over, he grabbed his digivice off the stand beside his bed once more, staring at its dim light in the otherwise pitch-dark room. Come on, I need _help_. I can't do this alone! I know I failed to stop Devimon before... I should have just run up and attacked him before he got the gate open, but... I'm trying! I really am trying! I just... I need a way...

One more chance... please, just give me one more chance... I... I don't really care what happens to this world, but it's what Angemon would want. I know he'd never quit, so just... please... give me one more chance to fix this.

Takeru slipped off to slumber, those thoughts still looping in his mind. One more chance... that was all he wanted. Help... please help me...

His dreams were the same as ever... the fanged demon. The monster in the dark. The child's screams as he fell into oblivion before being spat back out... into reality.

Takeru awoke with a jolt as his conscious and subconscious minds collided with full force. That... that was it! The rift! There was something there – there HAD to be! That's where it all started. That's where the monsters were coming from. That's where... that's it. The rift. He had to get back to the rift somehow.

When Takeru exited his room, he found no one there... both parents were out at work, no doubt. His mother had been staying home for a few days until she was confident he would be fine alone, so she had gone back to work since then, leaving him alone...

Alone... no. He had help. He already found the help he needed. Rushing to the phone, he grabbed it and quickly hit the redial button to bring back the last number his mother had called the night before... Ken's parents.

A woman's voice came up on the other end. His mom. She didn't seem to recognize the number, as she answered the call the same as any other...

"Hello, Ichijouji residence."

"I know how to stop the monsters."

Stunned silence. It took a moment for a woman to collect herself before she replied.

"This is... Takeru?"

"Yes. And I know how to stop the monsters, but I need help."

"What... do you need?"

"Someone with a car."

* * *

Ken's whole family came to pick him up in short order. His father had off of work due to the reason tragedy his family had experienced with the death of his son, so they were all together in this. Takeru was already waiting for them on the ground floor once they arrived. Then into the car and off they went... away from the city.

"You're sure we'll be safe?"

"No."

Takeru answered Ken's father bluntly, staring out the side window as he watched the urban sights fade, anxious to return to the camp site once more...

"Alright... in that case, I'm not taking us all the way there. I'll stop the car early and we'll walk the rest of the way."

"I'm going with you."

Ken quickly cut in, determined not to be left out. Even if it wasn't his fault, he lost his brother because of this. He wasn't going to just let everyone else run off into the fight without taking part, himself.

"No, you're n-"

"I'm going, too."

The father sighed and glanced to his wife, suddenly frustrated. He knew he'd made a mistake in letting them both come along for this drive. He'd already lost one son. The thought of dragging the rest of his family into this mess...

"I don't want either of you to be in danger."

"I don't want _you_ to be in danger!"

Ken's mother shouted back quickly and the father went silent. Takeru watched him from the back seat, his steely gaze piercing right through him for a brief moment the grown man's eyes caught his. Gotta make a choice... we're not going back. We can only go forward.

"Alright... then we all follow, but _Takeru_ leads."

Cowardly? Probably. But this was Takeru's plan, and he wasn't going to put his wife and surviving son in danger to pull it off if he didn't even know if it had a chance to succeed or not. Truthfully, he didn't actually know _what_ they were doing... just that they were going to where the rift was to do... something.

Takeru blocked out the rest of the conversation, turning his thoughts to the rift instead. What to do once he arrived... he didn't truly know. All he knew was what he had. A rift, a few friends, a digivice... and a memory. Hopefully that would be enough.

They stopped the car out by the trees and Takeru immediately stepped out and began hiking the rest of the way, the memory of this place burned clearly in his mind. Street lights... trees... and the field where he exited the rift.

He saw it well before he reached it. It seemed as if it had grown since he was last here. Had it been that long? Or had it simply grown that quickly? Well, it didn't matter. Maybe that would help him, anyway... a bigger rift meant more power in it, right? If he was going to get what he needed from here, he'd probably need all the power he could get.

The others stopped a ways back from the rift as Takeru approached it, pressing his hands forward as if to enter, but once more he was denied. Still... hmm. Okay, he needed to try something else.

Grabbing his digivice, Takeru closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Angemon... remember Angemon. This is for him. Holding his digivice forward, Takeru focused his mind and will into the rift, trying to mentally command it open.

The rift responded, but not the way he had hoped. It swelled, convulsed, and seemed for a moment as if it would open wide like a gaping mouth to invite him in... then, instead, its power surged out toward him, knocking him back, though not with enough force to harm him.

Takeru heard shouts from behind him, but he ignored them. Grunting, he climbed back to his feet and stepped forward again to have another go at it. This time it seemed to hold for a moment, and from within its depths he could feel something... that gaping wound in reality seemed like an eye, staring back at him from some far distant plane of existence. The digital world... he could feel it. It was fighting him, trying to keep him out. In it he felt power and form, but... also something else. Something he couldn't identify.

It surged again, throwing him back even further, but this time he was right back on his feet and rushing it again. NO! You can't hide from me! I know there's something there... this is the answer! To save the world... the others betrayed it, but I won't! Angemon died for it... so I'm not leaving here!

Angemon died for _him_. For Takeru... to save him from Devimon. He gave Takeru a chance at something he could have no other way... freedom. They both paid their dues. Their duty was finished. With this, he could stop. He could walk away. Destiny would find another way to save the world.

Takeru shook his head wildly. What... what was _that_? That wasn't his thoughts. That was something else inside his mind. A... a voice? Not a person's voice, though. It was like a... an idea. A living, sentient idea. _What_?

He pushed with all his mind and emotion and the rift swelled further, nearly pushing him off his feet, yet he refused to take even a single step back. Screams from behind. Panic. They were scared. Stop this insanity... but no. He couldn't stop. He had to keep going. He _would_ find an answer!

But it would doom him. Right now he had a way out. Only one way out... walk away now. If he stepped in any deeper, he could never leave again. Digimon and human, fighting together or not at all... without Angemon he was free. Such was the way of the digidestined. But if he crossed that line... if he entered the war by himself then there was no going back. It would utterly consume him.

Are you ready to sacrifice everything you are?

"_**YES!"**_

Takeru shouted at nothing and everything... at the silent voice in his head and the rift that served as its mouthpiece. No hope? No... this was his _only_ hope. He'd all but abandoned it before, thinking there was no way, but now that he knew there _was_... he had no other answer. He had to embrace this. For Angemon... for destiny... for revenge.

...for _himself_.

So be it.

And so the rift opened from within, and as Takeru peered into it he saw... everything. Numbers and words, thoughts and emotions. Ideas, choices, and unlimited potential. Pasts, futures...

He screamed and the rift erupted, throwing him back several yards, clear to where Ken's family stood. Then as they caught him, cushioning what might be an otherwise painful landing, he blacked out.

"So... what happened?"

Takeru was silent, staring off into the great empty sky above, eyes reflecting an odd sort of... sadness as he recalled that moment. After a long moment, lingering in that memory for what felt as an eternity, he replied, eyes coming down to meet Hikari's.

"I died."

Hikari blinked, understandably confused. She understood the metaphor clearly enough, but... she'd always thought of his 'death' as happening on Infinity Mountain. He'd even described it as such, in a way. So what was this... _other_ death?

"I looked into the Digital World... and the Digital World looked into me. I can't remember it all, but... in that moment I saw everything. The entire digital world. All history. Past, present... and countless possible futures. Beginnings and endings... I saw the living face of destiny. And then, once I could take no more... I blacked out."

Silence. Hikari merely watched him, unsure of what to say. Her mind was busily trying to assemble the pieces in her head as to what happened next. She wasn't certain, but she had suspicions... if that vision through the rift did what she thought it did...

"So what happened next?"

"I woke up. Then... I went to war."


End file.
